Friday, June 17, 2011
Game ending balks
Posted by Mat KovachThe Mets find a new way to lose, the game ending balk in extra innings. D.J. Carrasco stopped and reset his motion without stepping off the rubber. This allowed the Braves Diory Hernandez to walking in from third base.
Not quite the drama of game ending bases loaded triple or the uniqueness of a game ending catcher’s inteference but it is a fairly modern phenomena.
According to Retrosheet’s play-by-play data a game ending balk first happened in 1965 and 12 more times until last night. Those 13 included 7 that happened in extra innings. The first four happened with the bases loaded.
| GAME | INN | OUTS | PITCHER | BATTER | RUN_3D | BASES |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CIN196504280 | 14 | 2 | Ernie Broglio | Tony Perez | Tommy Harper | Loaded |
| PIT196506080 | 11 | 2 | Hal Woodeshick | Donn Clendenon | Bill Virdon | Loaded |
| HOU197304290 | 9 | 2 | Tom Walker | Larry Howard | Cesar Cedeno | Loaded |
| PIT197809292 | 9 | 0 | Warren Brusstar | Phil Garner | Dave Parker | Loaded |
| BOS198607100 | 12 | 2 | Todd Fischer | Rey Quinones | Dwight Evans | 2B & 3B |
| LAN198905280 | 12 | 0 | Roger McDowell | John Shelby | Dave Anderson | 2B & 3B |
| ATL199307040 | 9 | 1 | Matt Turner | Ron Gant | Deion Sanders | Loaded |
| BAL200004280 | 9 | 0 | Jeff Zimmerman | Greg Myers | Mark Lewis | 2B & 3B |
| FLO200005080 | 9 | 2 | John Rocker | Cliff Floyd | Danny Bautista | 2B & 3B |
| SEA200404190 | 14 | 1 | Justin Duchscherer | Scott Spiezio | Quinton McCracken | 1B & 3B |
| MIL200507150 | 10 | 1 | Mike Stanton | Lyle Overbay | Chris Magruder | 1B & 3B |
| ATL200809090 | 10 | 2 | Taylor Buchholz | Omar Infante | Kelly Johnson | 2B & 3B |
| LAN201005310 | 9 | 2 | Esmerling Vasquez | Blake DeWitt | Casey Blake | 3B only |
Of course, it was 1963 when the MLB had a major crack down on the balk rule, so it make sense that this started happening around then. But for more information about the balk, read David Wade’s excellent Inside the balk article.
Indians fan, member of the Duane Kuiper Fan Club, Spitball Researcher, Contact me on twitter, @siddfinch, via email or avian carrier
Nice list.
Fischer never pitched again after that game.
That was Stanton’s first game with DC after a mid-season trade from NYY.