ChitownRon
I have yet to see any player rob a homer at Wrigley... The basket makes impossible.
8:02 AM May 3rd

MarisFan61
Frank: Thanks! I've ordered the book.
Even if it doesn't shed light on why we think this thing is rarer than it is, it looks like it's an excellent book anyway.
11:56 AM Apr 20th

jimgus
Those,
I stand corrected on both the Kirby Game 6 catch and the timing of the Sam Rice catch. Although the really compelling thing about the Kirby story (especially for a self-described, "biggest Kirby hater in the world") is that he famously told his team to, "get on his back" for that game... and then he delivered. It's like the Babe telling a sick kid he will hit one out and then doing just that.

As for Sam Rice... yes, he DID leave a letter and it WAS opened after he died (some sixty or so years later) and he DID say in the letter that, "at no time did I lose possession of the ball." I didn't tell that part because I wanted to let others find out the end of the story on their own. Sort of like, prodding them to do the research. :-)

Cordially,
JimmyG​
8:59 AM Apr 20th

MarisFan61
BTW, here's a famous one that maybe challenges our judgment on whether it qualifies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2aSI0u7F3A
(Gionfriddo, against DiMaggio in the '47 World Series)

The famous still photo makes it look superficially like a HR robbery.
1.bp.blogspot.com/-4oaVSsldMLo/T0cndJm1rZI/AAAAAAAAYmk/Wt-Yx4D88RE/s320/al+gionfriddo+(4).jpg

But of course that's not how the catch happened. No catch happens that way. You don't catch the ball in that posture and position on a ball that's hit to that spot.

He had caught the ball before that point and his momentum just carried him to that spot and position. When he caught it, the ball wasn't as deep yet, but it was higher. Was it headed over the fence? Is that a HR robbery? At least from this, I think we have to say we don't know; we can't tell.

With current and more-recent catches, we have more views and better views. But I have to believe there are still lots of plays where the call is a guess, especially when it's at some distance from a low wall or fence, as with that play, although such low barriers are now rare or nonexistent.
2:52 AM Apr 19th

MarisFan61
Bill: Thanks for the math. This is one of those things where for some reason our intuition seems to lead us way wrong -- way way wrong. Why does that happen? I don't know. I'd love for someone someday to give some insight on what are the characteristics of things we tend to intuit poorly.

In a way it reminds me of the "Monty Hall" problem (which we discussed a while ago). My intuition still says that the right answer is wrong, even though the rest of my brain sees that it's right. In this case as in that one, I had some feeling like I was seeing a 3-card Monty game. :-)
I had to read Bill's thing over and over to convince myself that there wasn't some unintentional sleight-of-hand in there.

Actually (small point....tiny point, non-point point) :-) .....the way I would present it is to stop after the part where you get to "750 game winning catches," and say that's about 5 full seasons of an outfielder's games, and.......in how many games per season do you think a good fielding outfielder hits a home run? Obviously it's a bunch of times a year, and whatever number you think it is, multiply it by 5.

And really I would have thought that the average number of HR saves per team per year is, if anything, more than 2.5. I remember that on Opening Day of my first 'full year' watching major league baseball (which I know makes the story perhaps a little suspect) :-) .....it almost happened on two batters in a row, by the same outfielder. Jackie Jensen jumped at the wall and just missed stealing a home run from Norm Siebern. Mantle was up next and hit it to a similar spot. Jensen did what looked to me like an identical leap, and this time got it.

9:38 PM Apr 18th

packbringley
I'm with Maris; this seems hard to believe. I would have guessed this happens maybe, oh, once every couple of years, which would have meant I was off by a factor of 10. Is it that home run saving catches are more common than most of us think? I'd be interested in reading more on the subject.
12:28 PM Apr 18th

willibphx
I am really surprised Carlos Gomez is not high on the list considering his power and propensity to show up the highlight reels for his defensive play.
4:00 PM Apr 17th

BobGill
In the first game (I think) of the 1997 AL championship series, Brady Anderson ended the first inning by leaping above the fence in center field to take a home run away from ... I can't remember who, but it was probably Carlos Baerga or somebody like that. Maybe even Manny Ramirez. Then, on the first pitch in the bottom of the first, Anderson hit a home run. So on consecutive pitches he took away a homer and hit one of his own. I guess somebody could have matched that somewhere along the line, but nobody can ever beat it.

1:29 PM Apr 17th

jimgus
Can you say, Kirby Puckett, Game 6? :-)

Also, "robbing an HR" makes me think of the Sam Rice story: he made an "amazing" grab to close out a series game in 1925, falling into the stands; there was slight controversy about whether he held onto the ball or not; he NEVER said yes or no, but left a letter to be opened after he died; and the letter said... sorry not going to spoil it.

You can't make this stuff up!

Cordially,
JimmyG
10:55 AM Apr 17th

3for3
I think Eric Davis had 2 in one season...1987
11:10 PM Apr 16th

taosjohn
I wish we had them for Frank Robinson.
10:31 PM Apr 16th