[Fredslist] Fwd: hidden ball tricks

[BFendelman at aol.com]

When Evan  Longoria of the Rays pulled off the hidden ball trick last 
weekend  against the Dodgers, it caught the attention of a former Red Sox second 
baseman  living in Las  Vegas. 
Marty Barrett is one of the most accomplished practitioners of the  play in 
history. He executed it three times in the big leagues and as many as  
eight or 10 times in the minors, by his  estimation. 
“When I saw it happen, I loved the way they did it,”  Barrett told the 
Herald. “The third base ump waited, (the runner) lifted his  foot up just a 
little, and they got it. I loved it. It was  classic.” 
Barrett has two prime claims to fame in his career. One  is the monster 
postseason in 1986 that nearly lifted the Red Sox to the World  Series title. 
The other came a year earlier when he caught the Angels with the  hidden ball 
trick twice in the span of a week. 
The first came on Bobby Grich in Anaheim. 
“I actually apologized as I was tagging him,” Barrett  said. “Bobby Grich 
was one of my idols growing  up.” 
Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner had friends on the Angels  who told him 
that third baseman Doug  DeCinces rode Grich mercilessly for it on the 
flight to Boston the  following week. 
“Hey, watch out for that Little League trick, Bobby,”  DeCinces supposedly 
said. “Better be careful.” 
Needless to say, back in Boston when Barrett  caught DeCinces napping, 
tossing to shortstop Glenn Hoffman, who applied the tag,  DeCinces lost it and 
Grich loved it. 
“As I walked off the field, DeCinces was screaming at the  umpire, ‘You’re 
going to let him get away with that Little League (expletive)!’”  Barrett 
said. “But I heard that Bobby Grich was so happy it happened on  DeCinces.” 
Barrett explained how the play typically worked for him.  He picked his 
spots judiciously. After a sacrifice bunt was his personal  favorite. 
“What happens is the first base coach is congratulating  the guy for doing 
a great job getting the bunt down,” Barrett said. “The third  base coach is 
looking to the manager for a signal. They take their eye off the  ball and 
the runner usually has no idea. I would walk back to second, sometimes  to 
my position or close to second, and the pitcher would recognize what was  
going on and do a good job staying off the  mound. 
“If I was close to second, I’d tag the runner, but I did  it a couple of 
times with Glenn Hoffman. He knew how to do it. He’d mosey toward  second and 
as the runner got off, I’d flip it to him and he’d put the tag on for  the 
out.” 
Barrett understands that in today’s game, it’s considered  a breach of 
etiquette to pull the play. Pedroia joked that if he tried it, he’d  probably 
get drilled for his efforts. Barrett said that opposing pitchers  actually 
loved it — “They’d be out in the bullpen laughing,” he said — so he  knew he 
was probably OK. 
In any event, he deemed it a risk worth  taking.“It’s  kind of a cheesy 
way to get an out,” he said. “But if it can get you out of a  jam, I’m all 
for it. I used to do it in a sacrifice situation. If they’re  sacrificing to 
get a runner in scoring position, that’s obviously a big moment  in the game.”
 

 
Burton M  Fendelman, Esq.
60 Gramercy Park North - Suite 6 A
New York, NY  10010
Tel: (212) 388-0090
Fax: (212) 472-5436
E-mail:  bfendelman at aol.com


  
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