I umpired for 30 years. One of the most memorable plays I saw was a game-winning steal of home on an intentional walk. With a runner on third base and nobody out in the last inning of a tie game, the defensive team was planning to intentionally walk two batters to load the bases. After each pitch, however, the catcher returned the ball to the pitcher with high, arcing lobs. The gutsy runner on third base timed one of the lobs perfectly and stole home without even drawing a throw!
In fairness to the umpire on the first play, he did the right thing. As an official, you are trained to create an "L" between yourself and where the play will take place. You are also supposed to force your eyes ahead of the play. Had the catcher caught the ball, the call would have been correct. Once he saw the ball wasn't there, he quickly corrected himself. That is the way it's supposed to be done.
At least the first umpire changed his call to safe after he realized the catcher had missed the ball. I have a huge amount of respect for Umps who change the call when they realize they were wrong since you hardly ever see that happen. I wasn't even entirely sure you were allowed to change a call after you made it but I was clearly wrong there... It pisses me off a bit that I know now that you can change the call but there have been plays that were much more off then this one where the ump didn't change the call.
Why does that announcer find it so mind blowing that the umpire made a mistake, then corrected himself? The throw was high and the umpire was paying attention to the plate to see the tag.
Exactly what I was thinking. Through the umps peripherals Ellis looked to have caught the ball (pitch was high, glove was high, tag was made at the plate). It happens so fast you have to time to look at the glove, the ball, the runner, and the tag. Incredible steal though.
John Smith Especially because as an umpire, you are supposed to be forcing your eyes ahead of the play like that. Had the catcher caught the ball, the call would have been correct. Once he realized the ball wasn't there, he corrected himself. It wasn't a terrible call at all. It was an umpire doing the right thing.
yeah exactly, you can always go back and correct the call once realizing the ball is not in the fielder's possession. you want to focus all your attention on the bang-bang play, meanwhile. this is why some umpires will delay an "out" call for about a second or two, while they wait for the fielder to show them they have the ball.
CanadaMMA Technically an umpire is suppose to make sure the ball is in the back of the glove. But yeah everything else is understandable. And the umpire is only human as well. The main thing the announcer gets wrong is what everyone gets wrong. It has to deal with biases. There are several, hindsight bias, the bias you have when going for a team, etc. This has to deal with the perfect knowledge bias. The announcer has the better view of the ball and backend of the play (meaning if the ball is out of the glove, and past the catcher), and wrongly gives that knowledge to the umpire. To criticize the announcer for this seems shortsighted to me, as all humans possess this bias at differing points in our lives regardless of whether or not we admit it. This is where I think Joey G's comment is immature and extreme, and basically everything he accused the announcer of he is guilty of being himself.
Calm down commentators. If the catcher did catch the ball he would have been out. Once he saw that he didn't catch it he rightfully called the runner safe.
Nope, i do it every time I'm at third. I get a lead, the pitcher will either throw to third or start his wind up, but in either case i break for the plate and slide to the inside and I'm safe about 65-70% of the time
If it weren't for the crowd, more bases would be stolen. You gotta look around and somethings gotta be happening if you're just standing on the mound doing nothing and the crowd gets loud. tipping off the pitcher
2:50 I feel like more players should try that.. I mean, it honestly didn't look that difficult. If. You have a lefty with his back turned not looking at you (because nobody would expect a steal attempt) and the bater pretty much blocking the catchers view.. If you execute it like he did then it's probably as simple as it looked.
Ellsbury's was an actual steal of home. All the other ones were the runner advancing on a throw. They all probably count as stealing home but Ellsbury's was the best
If you think about it, it is stealing the base because it was not given to you nor was it on a hit. You attempted to steal home, caught in a rundown and avoided the tag. Therefore, you stole homebase
+Howard Barnett Screw it, I looked it up. "If he is picked off a base, but makes it to the next base, whether directly, or by successfully surviving a run down play, he also gets credit for a stolen base Note: as unfair as this is, the steal is charged to the catcher. i.e., his percentage of runners thrown out goes down, even though he was not involved on that play If he is picked off a base, and is thrown out trying to advance then he is charged with caught stealing Note: Similarly to the above example, the catcher here gets credit for the CS." BUT "On a double steal if one runner gets credit for a steal, award the other runner a stolen base as well Reasoning: This is giving the baserunners the benefit of the doubt. If a throw to third base is not in time, the assumption is that the catcher threw to the base he had the best chance of getting, therefore the runner stealing second would have been safe if the throw went there as well If one runner is thrown out, then do not give the other runner anything. His advance is treated like a fielder’s choice." So, runner goes from 3rd, avoids the rundown, stolen base. Double steal, other runner gets thrown out and you score, fielder's choice.
Aaron Hill had a great straight steal of home Jays vs Yankees back when he played for toronto. Not sure you can find it on youtube though but it was at the end of a close game.
Sept. 21, 1964: Chico Ruiz steals home for game's only run as Cincinnati Reds beat Philadelphia Phillies to start Phillies' well-known 10 game losing streak to tumble out of 1st place. Phillies had won on Sept. 20 but lost 2 games just before that, and one of those 2 losses also had a steal of home against Phillies.
That indians and royals double pickle i would vote in the top 10 of infield oddities and aswome demonstration of skill in baseball history. Even though one side has to lose you could see what professionals are made up. I made it to catcher in my jr. College team and it takes some bad skill to operate a high speed infield like that. That was spectacular!!!
Something pretty cool about the harper steal is that the only reason he was on base is because Cole Hammels beaned him as a "welcome to the show" kind of thing and I think bryce got him back...
Sorry this is late but the dirt came up because escobar planted his cleet into the ground when he took off and he must be tagged by the catcher who barely whiffed him
I've always thought Dick Enberg was a tool. The way he went on about the umpire calling the Padres' runner out by mistake only adds to my feelings. Umpires make mistakes, that's the whole human element of baseball Dick. Then, when he realizes his mistake and calls him safe, Enberg ridicules him even more. Yes, I hate Dick Enberg!
This could be 'modern day' steals of home. The best I've ever seen was Glenn Brummer of the St. Louis Cardinals stealing home on Gary Lavelle against the San Francisco Giants in '82.
On the first one, did that call stand? The guy that stole home stood as safe after the initial call of out? If that's how it went, what about Armando Galarraga's perfect game? Couldn't they have switched that call?
Ellsbury's was the only good one. Is not too difficult to steal home when the pitcher is sleeping or when the play is somewhere else, but doing a straight steal is impressive.
So the umpire in the first clip didn't see the catcher miss the ball. He was just presuming that the catcher had the ball because the tag did beat the runner.
Funny how the announcer in the first one is so quick to give the umpire crap (when the umpire actually didn't do anything wrong), but he doesn't point out how the catcher moped and sat on the ground for a couple seconds, which allowed the next, winning, run to cross the plate.
The second steal is a prime example of a diversion you'd learn in little league. If you're on Offense (On base) you'd steal 2nd because you know if they try to throw to tag you out the better on 3rd is taking home. And if you're on defense you just let the guy steal second so that doesn't happen. Simple mistake that could easily be avoided.
+Nicky Depaola Carew had 17 steals of home in his career. Nobody in his era or since has come very close (I think Molitor had 10), but it was much more common earlier in the century.
Anyone else notice that they're all kids? One was 19 y.o. anorher a rookie Elsbury did it his 2nd full season. All youngsters whit the guts to go for it!
Taxi Talk NYC He missed him both times. Even the catcher knew he missed him, which is why his hand went to his glove to throw him out. Also notice the catcher doesn't even contest it.
what's funny is that the ump called Cabrera out without realizing the catcher didn't even have the fucken ball LOL suddenly he sees it and calls him safe, trying not to look like a damn fool..
David Abbatangelo Royals fan here, and throughout the broadcast they showed multiple replays indicating Gomes missed him. That said, Esky wasn't credited with a stolen base, on the play. They scored it as Gordon getting a steal and Esky advancing on the throw.
I got nothing against Harper or Escobar, both of those plays were awesome examples of what makes them good players. However, they feel out of place in a stealing home list (hardly call 5 a compilation), even though they may technically be steals.
![ARGENTINA vs. BOLIVIA [6-0] | RESUMEN | ELIMINATORIAS SUDAMERICANAS | FECHA 10](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/C3wPtKNbAOA/mqdefault.jpg)
I umpired for 30 years. One of the most memorable plays I saw was a game-winning steal of home on an intentional walk. With a runner on third base and nobody out in the last inning of a tie game, the defensive team was planning to intentionally walk two batters to load the bases. After each pitch, however, the catcher returned the ball to the pitcher with high, arcing lobs. The gutsy runner on third base timed one of the lobs perfectly and stole home without even drawing a throw!
What stadium was it at❓❔❓❔
+Ethan Connor It occurred at a local ballpark in southern Ontario--near where I live.
+Lava1964 amazing haha
thanks
brampton?
Steal Home = Legend
Steal From a Home = Felon.
Hahaha that was pretty funny :p
How drastically two words can change somehing
Thanks+Tman Goodguy de
Warren Shaver for?
In fairness to the umpire on the first play, he did the right thing. As an official, you are trained to create an "L" between yourself and where the play will take place. You are also supposed to force your eyes ahead of the play. Had the catcher caught the ball, the call would have been correct. Once he saw the ball wasn't there, he quickly corrected himself.
That is the way it's supposed to be done.
Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez?
rutgers2825 Ha ha, The Sandlot. "You're killin' me Smalls!"
*****
Awesome!
The nostalgia
Willie Mays Hayes
+Tony Miller you may run like hayes but you hit like shit
My ex wife is the queen of stealing home. Does that count?..xD
ohh saucy
Kris hammer but you're not salty, or anything :p
Damn #Gofundme Kris Hammer
At least the first umpire changed his call to safe after he realized the catcher had missed the ball. I have a huge amount of respect for Umps who change the call when they realize they were wrong since you hardly ever see that happen. I wasn't even entirely sure you were allowed to change a call after you made it but I was clearly wrong there... It pisses me off a bit that I know now that you can change the call but there have been plays that were much more off then this one where the ump didn't change the call.
that little grin that Charlie Manuel has as he pops his bubblegum is the most beautiful moment in baseball that I have ever seen.
Why does that announcer find it so mind blowing that the umpire made a mistake, then corrected himself? The throw was high and the umpire was paying attention to the plate to see the tag.
John Smith He's a dumb hypocritical jackass who probably thinks he could have done better in the moment. F him.
Exactly what I was thinking. Through the umps peripherals Ellis looked to have caught the ball (pitch was high, glove was high, tag was made at the plate). It happens so fast you have to time to look at the glove, the ball, the runner, and the tag. Incredible steal though.
John Smith
Especially because as an umpire, you are supposed to be forcing your eyes ahead of the play like that. Had the catcher caught the ball, the call would have been correct.
Once he realized the ball wasn't there, he corrected himself.
It wasn't a terrible call at all. It was an umpire doing the right thing.
yeah exactly, you can always go back and correct the call once realizing the ball is not in the fielder's possession. you want to focus all your attention on the bang-bang play, meanwhile.
this is why some umpires will delay an "out" call for about a second or two, while they wait for the fielder to show them they have the ball.
CanadaMMA Technically an umpire is suppose to make sure the ball is in the back of the glove. But yeah everything else is understandable. And the umpire is only human as well. The main thing the announcer gets wrong is what everyone gets wrong. It has to deal with biases. There are several, hindsight bias, the bias you have when going for a team, etc. This has to deal with the perfect knowledge bias. The announcer has the better view of the ball and backend of the play (meaning if the ball is out of the glove, and past the catcher), and wrongly gives that knowledge to the umpire. To criticize the announcer for this seems shortsighted to me, as all humans possess this bias at differing points in our lives regardless of whether or not we admit it. This is where I think Joey G's comment is immature and extreme, and basically everything he accused the announcer of he is guilty of being himself.
Calm down commentators. If the catcher did catch the ball he would have been out. Once he saw that he didn't catch it he rightfully called the runner safe.
No kidding. Padres long time announcer/full time douchebag Dick Enberg at his finest.
DEMOLITIONZ27 fuck you, Enberg is a legend.
Did you see how emphatically he called him out?
in mlb the show this is physically impossible
Nope, i do it every time I'm at third. I get a lead, the pitcher will either throw to third or start his wind up, but in either case i break for the plate and slide to the inside and I'm safe about 65-70% of the time
Robert Snider maybe i should make a tutorial
Robert Snider Yes, please do!
Unless u get maxed out speed w/ licensed equipment
i couldn't even do it in mlb 12 the show and my guy was maxed out.
If it weren't for the crowd, more bases would be stolen.
You gotta look around and somethings gotta be happening if you're just standing on the mound doing nothing and the crowd gets loud. tipping off the pitcher
stealing is bad.
What do u mean
Lol
+Dennis Vargas Baseball players are so naughty
stealing home = legend.
Sometimes you got to steal ALL the homes.
Wut
What were the songs on this.I loved the video. I like the songs just dont know what they are
I was at that Royals game. It was one of the most awesome moments in a ballpark that I've ever seen :)
2:50 I feel like more players should try that.. I mean, it honestly didn't look that difficult. If. You have a lefty with his back turned not looking at you (because nobody would expect a steal attempt) and the bater pretty much blocking the catchers view.. If you execute it like he did then it's probably as simple as it looked.
Ellsbury's was an actual steal of home. All the other ones were the runner advancing on a throw. They all probably count as stealing home but Ellsbury's was the best
what are u talking about??.. the very 1st one was a steal on the pitcher. Was just like ellburys, pitcher had the ball.
Alpha-Q-Up Your right my bad. I still think Ellsbury's was the best.
The Villar one though was a perfect home plate steal, wasn't it?
Jonathan villar was a steal
No one will have a better steal at home than Jackie Robinson
I witnessed someone steal home at a White Sox game - seeing the other team absolutely clueless added to the experience!
For your future reference: being caught in a rundown and avoiding the tag is not stealing a base.
Thank you!
If you think about it, it is stealing the base because it was not given to you nor was it on a hit. You attempted to steal home, caught in a rundown and avoided the tag. Therefore, you stole homebase
I can see where you're coming from but I don'[t see it that way. The straight attempt to steal isn't there. That's how I see it.
Understandable, but in the books, it's counted as a steal
+Howard Barnett Screw it, I looked it up.
"If he is picked off a base, but makes it to the next base, whether directly, or by successfully surviving a run down play, he also gets credit for a stolen base
Note: as unfair as this is, the steal is charged to the catcher. i.e., his percentage of runners thrown out goes down, even though he was not involved on that play
If he is picked off a base, and is thrown out trying to advance then he is charged with caught stealing
Note: Similarly to the above example, the catcher here gets credit for the CS."
BUT
"On a double steal if one runner gets credit for a steal, award the other runner a stolen base as well
Reasoning: This is giving the baserunners the benefit of the doubt. If a throw to third base is not in time, the assumption is that the catcher threw to the base he had the best chance of getting, therefore the runner stealing second would have been safe if the throw went there as well
If one runner is thrown out, then do not give the other runner anything. His advance is treated like a fielder’s choice."
So, runner goes from 3rd, avoids the rundown, stolen base. Double steal, other runner gets thrown out and you score, fielder's choice.
0:15
GREAT producer right there !! Wow !! Cool - can I get a job at that station ???
Jacoby Ellsbury just did it again today but playing for the Yankees
Reason i came to watch this video lol
+P kells12 me too XD
I can't find video of it but Jason Kendall's walk off steal of home when Fransisco Rodriguez dropped the throw back from the catcher in 05 was awesome
Aaron Hill had a great straight steal of home Jays vs Yankees back when he played for toronto. Not sure you can find it on youtube though but it was at the end of a close game.
Sept. 21, 1964: Chico Ruiz steals home for game's only run as Cincinnati Reds beat Philadelphia Phillies to start Phillies' well-known 10 game losing streak to tumble out of 1st place. Phillies had won on Sept. 20 but lost 2 games just before that, and one of those 2 losses also had a steal of home against Phillies.
that Ellsbury one was crazy. How the hell do you steal home on the pitch?
That is why baseball is so fucking awesome ^^
A video so nice, I watched it twice!
Aaron Hill was the other guy who stole home off Pettite (in Toronto)
Cabby! My favorite player and favorite Padre. Such a shame we DFA'd him. Could've used him this year, too.
Ernesto Arce i was a fan of him too until he abused steroids twice and got arrested lol.
Sweet Video dude!
That indians and royals double pickle i would vote in the top 10 of infield oddities and aswome demonstration of skill in baseball history. Even though one side has to lose you could see what professionals are made up. I made it to catcher in my jr. College team and it takes some bad skill to operate a high speed infield like that. That was spectacular!!!
Something pretty cool about the harper steal is that the only reason he was on base is because Cole Hammels beaned him as a "welcome to the show" kind of thing and I think bryce got him back...
at 1:55 you see some dirt come up. was he tagged or does it have to be more contact than that?
good call or bad call?
Sorry this is late but the dirt came up because escobar planted his cleet into the ground when he took off and he must be tagged by the catcher who barely whiffed him
Nice background music !
They make it look so easy!
I've always thought Dick Enberg was a tool. The way he went on about the umpire calling the Padres' runner out by mistake only adds to my feelings. Umpires make mistakes, that's the whole human element of baseball Dick. Then, when he realizes his mistake and calls him safe, Enberg ridicules him even more.
Yes, I hate Dick Enberg!
The best steal of home I ever saw wasn't listed. Elvis Andrus vs San Diego. He did it off a right handed pitcher
Great video! ...WOW
This could be 'modern day' steals of home. The best I've ever seen was Glenn Brummer of the St. Louis Cardinals stealing home on Gary Lavelle against the San Francisco Giants in '82.
Can you repost a version without the music? Thanks.
Greg Gibson, the home plate umpire...
IS MOTIONING TO BOTH PLAYERS...
qazwsx And the Dodgers celebrating in their dugout...
The speed deprived Mike Sweeney stole home on Pettite. Pettite was notorious for not keeping an eye on the guy at third.
Good clip.
What dates were each of these games?
1st steal was sometime during the 2013 season
...Greg Gibson... The home plate umpire...
02:03 Great call NOT !! OUT - Tagged the foot !!!
Can't wait till Billy Hamilton does this
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) it will happen
He did
@Brandon Riley yeah i know i saw it on espn after posting this
All of them were homies stealing it.
No surprise there.
On the first one, did that call stand? The guy that stole home stood as safe after the initial call of out? If that's how it went, what about Armando Galarraga's perfect game? Couldn't they have switched that call?
What song is that called? Please respond.
Ellsbury's was the only good one. Is not too difficult to steal home when the pitcher is sleeping or when the play is somewhere else, but doing a straight steal is impressive.
Nice mullet Harper
This was posted on my birthday
Fascinating.
2:59 - This is why you never throw behind runners, kids.
So the umpire in the first clip didn't see the catcher miss the ball. He was just presuming that the catcher had the ball because the tag did beat the runner.
Song at 3:20? Can someone help me out? It sounds so familiar, but I cant remember the name
Gotta add a second jacoby ellsbury steal now :)
But this time *for* the yankees :(
It was awesome
Funny how the announcer in the first one is so quick to give the umpire crap (when the umpire actually didn't do anything wrong), but he doesn't point out how the catcher moped and sat on the ground for a couple seconds, which allowed the next, winning, run to cross the plate.
1:41 what's the guy in the yellow doing?
Michael Mehicani ummmm... wiping something off his friends hand, smelling it, then licking it off his hand with a huge smile?
good catch!
lol, that whole trio is goofy looking.
Greg Gibson motioned both the players safe on that play..except he fucked up the first call initially LOL
great vid
The second steal is a prime example of a diversion you'd learn in little league. If you're on Offense (On base) you'd steal 2nd because you know if they try to throw to tag you out the better on 3rd is taking home. And if you're on defense you just let the guy steal second so that doesn't happen. Simple mistake that could easily be avoided.
I think the great Rod Carew has the MLB record ..for season..(7x) and career (23x!) Also he was one of the greatest hitters ever!
Cobb has both. 8 in 1912, and 54 for his career.
+Nicky Depaola Carew had 17 steals of home in his career. Nobody in his era or since has come very close (I think Molitor had 10), but it was much more common earlier in the century.
+Vin Rabideaux ...Thanks for that stat!
Ellsbury stealing home was even bigger because it was a playoff game.That's a lot of balls for a rookie to try that one.The kid could fly tho.
Anyone else notice that they're all kids? One was 19 y.o. anorher a rookie Elsbury did it his 2nd full season. All youngsters whit the guts to go for it!
Villar at 2:15 is totally outstanding!
Escobar got wheels 😂😂
What s the song in the background
What's it called
thats awsome
Home Plate Stolen = When your pitcher is eating shit.
What is that song called
Leave it to the Padres broadcast to get mad about an easy mistake that was immediately corrected.
Yup. Dick Enberg at his douchiest.
Stealing home plate, the drag bunt, stealing bases, playing small ball.. ALL LOST ARTS IN BASEBALL...
A stealing home compilation without Jackie Robinson? Wait, what?!
if theres a part 2, donaldsons home steal should be in there
If you update this list have Billy Hamilton on there when he steals second third then home
Greg Gibson, the home plate umpire, doesn't have his best moment on that first one.
Has someone ever get hit by the pitch while stealing home
Ellsbury just ellsBURIED him
Background song?
I would like baseball if I didn't have to sit there twiddling my thumbs for three hours to see stuff like this.
What was the song at 3:20?
02:05 OUT !! TWICE !! HORRIBLE CALL !!
NOOOO.
Taxi Talk NYC He missed him both times. Even the catcher knew he missed him, which is why his hand went to his glove to throw him out. Also notice the catcher doesn't even contest it.
That first one took major balls to do that
Taxi Talk NYC
great call as many would call him out. He missed him both times the catcher didn't even protest. Watch it again at 1:55
Guard the plate, dammit.
Escobar's is awesome!!!
I've wondered why in a rundown when a Catcher is involved they don't flip off their mask.
Harper is a great baseball player for someone straight out of Highschool! Not even college...
what's funny is that the ump called Cabrera out without realizing the catcher didn't even have the fucken ball LOL suddenly he sees it and calls him safe, trying not to look like a damn fool..
but the biggest fool had to be the pitcher (Jansen?)..what the fuck was he doing?
Ok in all honesty the pickle with Alicdes Escobar, he got tagged by the catcher.
No he didn't in all honesty
Clearly missed the tag
At least spell his name right :P
David Abbatangelo Royals fan here, and throughout the broadcast they showed multiple replays indicating Gomes missed him. That said, Esky wasn't credited with a stolen base, on the play. They scored it as Gordon getting a steal and Esky advancing on the throw.
sick move by escobar.
How can the top 5 all be in the last 3 years?
I got nothing against Harper or Escobar, both of those plays were awesome examples of what makes them good players. However, they feel out of place in a stealing home list (hardly call 5 a compilation), even though they may technically be steals.
Que Estilo de juegos tan bueno...
I was at that Dodger game...
Escobar should have been called out. He was clearly tagged on the foot trying to avoid the tag
What the song
Escobar was tagged out, you can see the glove deflect on the second view.
Music?
this is even more impossible in softball because you can't steal until the ball leaves the pitchers hand