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Ball players have been calling the official scorer to complain for... oh, more than a century. Still doesn't make it likeable.


I've been wandering the net, checking in at the other Jays related sites in my bookmarks, and they were mocking Orlando Cabrera over at DJF for calling the official scorer. A helpful link to the original story in the Chicago Tribune was included, wherein we read:

Cabrera, who is enjoying a renaissance at the plate, feels as if he's on his own island after feeling neglected. Cabrera personally called the press box May 3 in Toronto and Thursday at U.S. Cellular to express his displeasure over errors charged against him. Both calls were overturned, but Guillen reiterated he thought the phone calls were made for selfish reasons.

A quick peek at the calendar confirmed that I was at that very game, keeping score. What does my scoresheet look like? Let me show you. Direct your eyes to Lyle Overbay's second at bat of the game:



The code "FCE" stands for Fielder's Choice Error. In the fourth inning, with one and and Shannon Stewart on first, Lyle Overbay hit a ground ball up the middle to the shortstop's left (location code K130 - Cabrera would have been moving towards second base). They attempted to force Stewart at second and something went awry.

I couldn't tell for sure from simply looking at the scoresheet with my naked, and somewhat elderly, eye - but once I'd scanned it and zoomed in on the at bat in question, it's clear that I originally wrote FCE and then just 6t in the box for the fielding play, meaning error (throwing) on the shortstop; that I changed it to 64 (meaning the shortstop gets the assist, and the second baseman gets the error) sometime afterwards.

I seem to have added the explanatory word "muff," suggesting that the throw was there and the second baseman just dropped it. Which hardly seems right - the ball went far enough astray that Stewart advanced to third base, and Overbay ended up at second. I think the throw went into the outfield.

The Blue Jays PR people sit quite near the official scorer, for good and obvious reasons. And whenever an opposing fielder makes an error, unless the error was truly egregious, they will always check in with the official scorer, just to make sure he's certain that it couldn't have been scored a base hit for the Blue Jay batter. I haven't really seen it have much impact on the actual calls, but I have no doubt that the players expect them to try anyway. But the Jays people wouldn't have cared too much about this play. There was no way Overbay could get a hit out of this; there was no actual scoring error involved (which will get everyone yelling) - it was simply a judgement call as to which White Sox infielder was to be charged with the error.

So yeah. Orlando would have seen that he had been charged with the error, and called the White Sox PR guy in the press box between innings to throw Pablo Ozuna under the bus. The Sox PR guy would have said "OK, Orlando" and then dutifully trudged over to get the official scorer to look at the play again between innings. Which is quite clearly what happened. The official scorer decided that Cabrera was right, that the error was not his fault, and so the change was made and announced to one and all.

I suppose it is better to get it right, in the long run.

Speaking of errors, or at least people rethinking their original positions, Jeff Blair seems to go back a ways with Gary Carter. It doesn't seem to be a mutual admiration society (or possibly an extremely one-sided one). Blair's latest blog entry begins thus:

Gary Carter always did have the sincerity of a three-dollar bill, but in openly angling for Willie Randolph's position he has once again revealed himself to be at least as much of a ditz as a phony - way too dim-witted to be a successful Major League manager...Carter famously once told Montreal reporters during his excruciatingly cheesy final season with the Expos that although he wanted to eventually manage in the Majors, he didn't want to be bothered riding the buses in the minors "and all that stuff." And why should he bother do it?

All well and good, and if you're wondering what Carter is actually doing these days, The Gruff One did provide a link. Let's follow!

Carter is currently managing the Orange County Flyers of the independent Golden League in California.

Guess he changed his mind, too. Although he did want to say that should the Mets call, he can be there. Without a doubt. Absolutely. For sure. Yesterday, in fact.

Nothing too odd about that, really.

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King Ryan - Thursday, May 29 2008 @ 05:37 AM EDT (#186090) #
Being an insomniac, I thought I'd check out the play on MLB.tv.  It's about 1:03:10 into the game.   Cabrera was actually moving towards third base and backhanded the ball, before turning and making a very hard throw to Ozuna covering second.  Ozuna simply couldn't get a glove on it as it tipped off the top and flew into right field, allowing Overbay to advance to third.

...yep.

scottt - Thursday, May 29 2008 @ 07:22 AM EDT (#186091) #
Gary Carter always did have the sincerity of a three-dollar bill

Really? I remember him as the only charismatic player the Expos ever had. The team instantly became unmarketable after he was traded.
I'm sure there's tons of people in Quebec who have no idea who Larry Walker is.

Catchers usually make fine managers. I hope Sal gives it a shot, although he's not big on riding the bus either.

I suppose Cabrera has acquired that mentality after bouncing from teams to teams. When does is contract expire?
TheyCallMeMorty - Thursday, May 29 2008 @ 07:56 AM EDT (#186093) #
I remember watching this play live on TV.  There is no doubt in my mind that Cabrera should've been given the error on the play.
John Northey - Thursday, May 29 2008 @ 08:23 AM EDT (#186094) #
Seems obvious to me that Gary Carter has made a lot of enemies in the press at some point.  From what I've read it sounds very much like someone asking a 'duh' question - would Carter take the Mets job if offered - and he responded with an of course type answer.  Gee, would you prefer he lied and said 'oh no, I couldn't think of taking a job that is currently held by such a wonderful person as Willie'.  When I hear players/ex-players say stuff like that I gag as it is obviously a lie said for PR purposes.

Show me one qualified managerial candidate who doesn't hope for someone like Willie Randolph to be fired, and you'll be showing me someone who doesn't really want to manage in the majors.  There are 30 jobs for managers, and the only way you get one of those jobs is if someone is fired or, in the very rare case, someone retires.

jmoney - Thursday, May 29 2008 @ 12:01 PM EDT (#186112) #
I vaguely remember a similar incident in which Clemens (Near the end of his stint with Boston) was chasing the AL ERA crown and Boggs had a ball go through him that was scored an error. Later a run or two came in to score that inning.

After the game Boggs had a talk with the scorekeeper and had it changed to a hit which in turn caused Clemens ERA to rise. Needless to say Clemens was quite put out and said something to that effect through the media.

Mick Doherty - Thursday, May 29 2008 @ 12:08 PM EDT (#186114) #

When I hear players/ex-players say stuff like that I gag as it is obviously a lie said for PR purposes

I understand the reaction, but as one who works in PR/Marketing/Communications, my first thought on reading that sentence was, "well, that's certainly a good reason!"

Sometimes it backfires -- "Mission Accomplished" was all about PR and massively backfired, eventually -- but speaking carefully to build, rehabilitate or reinforce an image, or to create an opportunity -- I certainly understand that. Don't always like it or agree with it personally, but it's savvy from a business perspective.

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