Maldy Rips The Cover Off The Ball (4/18/2014)
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The composition of the baseball is a hot topic in baseball these days, but no one seems to be arguing about the ball's durability—they take some serious punishment and hold up pretty well.
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Except when Martin Maldonado is swinging the bat.
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In early 2014, facing Pittsburgh's Charlie Morton in the 6th inning of a close game, the Brewers catcher grounded to 3B Pedro Alvarez. Ordinarily, this wouldn't have meant anything at all, but Maldonado literally hit the cover right off the baseball!
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Notes: Maldonado was credited with an infield single (I always thought such plays resulted in a dead ball but obviously not in this case). He eventually came around to score Milwaukee's 5th run; they'd go on to a 5-3 victory.
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As for the baseball: I know of one other instance of a ripped-off cover: Tampa Bay's Matt Duffy in August 2016.
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Pirates 1B Gaby Sanchez and C Russell Martin are seen marveling at the ball. Brewers runner Mark Reynolds has a laugh.
Curry Breaks Jackson's Ankles (1/5/2019)
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It's easy to get lost in all of Stephen Curry's shooting exploits—simply put, nobody's done it better than the two-time MVP. But don't forget everything else Curry excels at, namely his expert ballhandling. He's made a number of dudes look bad over the years, including young Justin Jackson of the Kings.
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January 2019: Late in an eventual Golden State road win over Sacramento, Curry bought the second-year man Jackson a one-way trip to the floor with a simple jab step.
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Notes: Curry's 3 put GS up to stay; they'd eventually win 127-123. The Warriors had led by 16 in the 2Q before letting Sacramento back in the game.
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You see Kevin Durant feeding Curry the ball; Curry finished with 42 points in 38 minutes. Aside from collapsing, Jackson wasn't bad either, racking up a career-best 28 points of his own off the bench.
Ramon Ortiz Is Emotional After Injury (6/2/2013)
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A League Of Their Own had it wrong: sometimes, there is crying in baseball. And when you're staring the end of your career in the face, it's perfectly acceptable.
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Blue Jays SP Ramon Ortiz, once upon a time, was one of the better righties in the AL but by 2013, he was 40 and just hanging on. Toronto sent him to the mound to face the San Diego Padres in mid-2013.
In the B3rd, facing 3B Chase Headley, Ortiz felt something wrong in his arm, and immediately realized it was serious.
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Notes: We see Ortiz's teammates 3B Edwin Encarnacion (#10), SS Munenori Kawasaki (#66), C J.P. Arencibia (#9) and 2B Maicer Izturis (#3) join him near the mound as the trainer tends to him. Eventually, 1B Adam Lind (#26), Jays MGR John Gibbons, and HP umpire Angel Hernandez join the group.
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At around the 1:00 mark, we see Jays pitching coach Pete Walker pacing around.
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Ortiz was diagnosed with a partially torn UCL, and his MLB career did indeed end. He did return to pitch two more years in the Mexican League, however.
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Toronto trailed 4-2 at the time of Ortiz's injury, but came back to win 7-4 in 11 innings.
Patrick Mahomes' 30-Yard Loss (12/13/2020)
You can probably count on one hand the number of times Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes has done something wrong since he entered the league. I mean, even his State Farm and Bose ads are flawless!
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But I've uncovered video proof of Mahomes committing a flagrant error, against the host Dolphins in 2020. As Miami defenders Jerome Baker (#55) and Emmanuel Ogbah (#91) flush the superstar QB out of the pocket, he unwisely refuses to give up on the play.
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Before anyone knew it, Baker had caught up to Mahomes and sacked him...for a 30-yard loss! (Yes, the Chiefs punted on 4th and 42.)
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Notes: The play went down in the first quarter of an eventual 33-27 Chiefs victory. Mahomes, despite the costly sack, finished with 393 passing yards. Baker registered 2.5 sacks on the day and hit Mahomes three other times.
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KC tackle Eric Fisher (#72) can also be seen trying to prevent the inevitable.
Ichiro's 258th Hit Of 2004 (10/1/2004)
George Sisler set baseball's single-season hit record of 257 way back in 1920. Some of baseball's very best hitters, including the hit king Pete Rose, never seriously threatened the mark. It would take an exceptional hitter with exceptional speed (to beat out infield hits) in a hitter's era to ever top Sisler.
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The right man at the right time finally came to MLB in 2001. Ichiro Suzuki was a hit machine in his native Japan and didn't waste time becoming one in the States as well. In 2004, Suzuki got hot and stayed hot, and in the third-to-last game of the season, he passed the Hall-of-Famer Sisler's mark with hit #258.
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Notes: The elderly woman shown repeatedly is the daughter of the late Sisler, 82-year-old Frances Sisler Drochelman. She herself passed away in 2010.
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Ichiro's record was achieved as part of a season-ending 13-game hit streak. He notched four more hits as 2004 wrapped to finish at 262, still the all-time record.
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The pitcher of record was Texas's Ryan Drese and the first baseman congratulating Ichiro is Mark Teixeira. This went down in the 3rd inning of an eventual 8-3 Mariners win; Ichiro finished up 3-for-5 with two runs.
Yoenis Cespedes' Insane Throw (6/10/2014)
After watching Yoenis Cespedes steal nearly $100M from the Mets 2017-20, it's easy to brush aside just how talented the guy was/is and why he was given that much cash in the first place. When healthy, he could hit baseballs very far, and when necessary, it turned out he could throw them almost as far as he hit them.
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Case in point: with one out in the 8th inning of a 1-1 game against the rival Angels, the then-A's outfielder committed what could have been a costly error while trying to corral Mike Trout's double. The reason it wasn't costly? Cespedes' bazooka of a right arm.
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Notes: That is Howie Kendrick being erased while trying to score on the double/error; Trout was eventually stranded. In the 9th, Cespedes would reach 3B with the potential go-ahead run, but he was stranded there.
Los Angeles won in the 14th on Collin Cowgill's walk-off home run (against Jeff Francis). But all anybody talked about for days was Cespedes' insane throw.
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Luke Gregerson and Derek Norris make up the Oakland battery. A's broadcasters Glen Kuiper and Ray Fosse are on the call.
J.R. Smith Forgets The Score (5/31/2018)
Longtime Nuggets/Knicks/Cavs guard J.R. Smith can really leave one speechless, and not just because of his at-times unstoppable shooting skillz. Whether it's soup-throwing or Twitter-beefing or shoe-untying or (fill in the blank), it's easy to wonder just what goes on in Smith's head sometimes.
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In Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals, what wasn't going on in his head was, well, Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals. Late in the 4Q of a tie game against my Warriors, Smith's Cavs teammate George Hill bricked a free throw.
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Smith corralled the rebound, but rather than go back up with a quick shot or pass to a nearby teammate, Smith—obviously unaware the game was only tied—tried to dribble out the clock as his astounded teammates reacted in horror (but didn't dare confront Smith...you just don't do that.)
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Notes: Smith finally does pass to Hill in the corner, but as you see, his desperation three-pointer had no chance. The game went to overtime; Golden State won 124-114 and eventually swept the series.
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Smith finished Game 1 with 10 points in 39 minutes. He initially denied not knowing the score, but sort of 'fessed up later on.
Jose Canseco Pitches (5/29/1993)
On May 26, 1993, Jose Canseco allowed a fly ball from Cleveland's Carlos Martinez to bounce off his head over the wall for a home run.
Before people had finished laughing at that particular misfortune, all of a sudden there Canseco was attempting to pitch. The transformation from feared superstar to sideshow was officially underway.
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Texas was being hammered by Boston 12-1 when it sent Canseco out to pitch the 8th inning. When asked to describe Canseco's best pitch, one observer replied "A ball."
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Notes: Only the three outs Canseco recorded are shown in the vid (John Valentin, Billy Hatcher and Andre Dawson in order). He allowed three walks, two hits and three runs in his inning of work, throwing 33 pitches and blowing out his arm. Canseco never pitched again.
Colts Try Two-Man Formation (10/18/2015)
Here we go! Starting today, TSR will attempt to share NFL videos along with the MLB and NBA videos we've presented since 2014. The NFL isn't exactly flexible with its content, and I may be forced to remove this content before long, so enjoy it while you can!
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This blunder by the 2015 Indianapolis Colts is too outstanding to not share with the universe. Literally, every football fan in America needs to see this play up close, at least twice preferably.
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Notes: It was later revealed Colts coach Chuck Pagano never intended for the ball to be snapped, but acting C Griff Whalen was filling in for an ill teammate and wasn't aware the whole plan was to draw the defense offsides. (Though you'd think common sense would kick in upon realizing TWO offensive players are on the line of scrimmage.)
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The Patriots would go on to win 34-27.
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Here's a detailed read of the gaffe.
Eric Young Jr. Bunts Into Right Field (4/23/2015)
BaseballReference.com describes it as a "bunt line drive". And that's pretty much the only way to accurately describe Eric Young Jr.'s leadoff single against the Mets' Bartolo Colon 4/23/15.
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In his career (2009-18), Young registered 26 bunt hits—did the other 25 combined travel as far as this one? Okay, that might be a stretch but still, Young's bunt single was more squarely hit and perfectly placed than a lot of conventional singles.
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Notes: Young was soon erased on a 3-6-1 double play; he finished the game 1-for-4 as his Braves fell to the Mets 6-3. Later in the year Young would return to the Mets for 18 games.