Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Pulled a Chuck Knoblauch

I cost our kickball team the game last night -- we tied, when we should have won.

We were up 2-0 early on. I was playing first base, with a runner on first. The kicker bunts, and Harry, team captain and pitcher, scoops it up and tosses it to me. I make the catch, but the first base ref calls it safe because he says my foot wasn't on the base.

Now, "pulling a Chuck Knoblauch" goes back to game 2 of the 1998 ALCS, when first baseman Chuck Knoblauch of the Yankees was so busy arguing a call at first that he ignored the ball, allowing the go-ahead run to score.

Well, I'm arguing the call with the ump, and meanwhile, the runners are scooting around the bases. By the time I realize what all the yelling is about and get the ball back to Harry to kill the play, they scored one run and the kicker has advanced to third and ends up scoring on the next play.

Oh, and the only reason I know about the Chuck Knoblauch play was I was writing a sports news promo for AOL.com back in 1998, and I used the headline "Dispute the Call...But Play the Ball."

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