The Utley Take Out Of The Game Slide: The Dark Side of Major League
Baseball.
Al Figone
Folsom, CA
October 20, 2015
Major League Baseball (MLB) and other levels
of the game since their inception have experienced “dark years” when the purity
of the game was overtaken by externally-driven economic and social forces. For
MLB, it was the insidiousness of the owners’ “winking an eye” at the gambling
menace since the beginning of the National League in 1876 that led to the 1919
Black Sox Scandal.[1] In the
latter part of the 20th century, Performance enhancing drugs (PEDS) besmirched
the accomplishments of potential Hall of Famers [i.e. Bonds, Clemens, Palmeiro].[2] In
2015, it’s the take out slide to
prevent a double play that has become the latest threat to the game’s
integrity.
Assuredly, the
billion dollar advertising industry that sustains television and its attendant
businesses has brought wealth to the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL beyond anyone’s wildest
predictions. But, how does the TV industry ask MLB to protect its most valuable
commodity or players’ skills from fundamentally unsafe technical executions?
Football has finally accepted that any form of brain trauma can cause permanent
brain disease and implemented rules prohibiting specific blows to the head.
Overuse and improper pitching mechanics have created an epidemic of Tommy John
surgeries [replacement of the ulnar ligament in elbow]. And, the medical
community has invested significant money to research and develop ways to
prevent million dollar arms from blowing out because of unsound mechanics.[3] Following
the Scott Cousins head first slide into Buster Posey in 2011, MLB, initiated a
rule that protects catchers from unnecessary types of collision [Cousins chose
to level Posey in front of home instead of sliding to the foul side of the
plate].[4]
Anyone observing the
Chase Utley take out slide on October 10th which broke the fibula
bone in Ruben Tejada’s right leg had to be stunned by the sheer possibility of
a catastrophic injury. Most perplexing was the virtual lack of criticism by MLB
baseball players, executives, managers, or anyone financially associated with
the sport about the propriety of the slide? Take out slides have been prevalent
and expected in baseball since before the 20th century.[5] The
slide was invented to injure African-Americans playing a middle infield
position before institutionalized racism excluded the few blacks in the NL from
the game in 1900. Contrary to the myth that Ty Cobb used the slide exclusively,
the slide including the fadeaway [a bent-leg designed to avoid a tag], was used
sparingly by Cobb but remained popular because of its efficiency in quickly
reaching a base or home, ease in learning and mastery, and teaching of Detroit
scout and sliding guru Bernie DeViveiros beginning in the 1950’s.[6] Frank Robinson was known as a vicious take
out slider, but he did so by combining speed, size, and the bent-leg slide.
And, few infielders or baserunners were injured during the slide’s execution
until its virtual disappearance in the latter part of the 20th
century. [7]
In the absence of
teaching a correct bent-leg pop up and fadeaway and hook slides at the youth
levels and popularized by all-time MLB leader in base stealing Ricky Henderson,
the head first gained popularity at all levels of the game. However, versions
of the feet first slide were employed by the second all- time stolen base
leader Lou Brock, Maury Wills (4th), and Joe Morgan (8th).[8]
Clearly, with the exception of Henderson who possessed thick and muscular legs,
a low center of gravity when running, and would reach full stride in less than
four steps after takeoff, Brock, Wills, and Morgan relied almost exclusively on
studying pitcher’s moves to home or first, variation in their lead techniques,
and a technically sound take off.[9]
Although sliding is a key element in pilfering bases, it’s the work completed
before the slide that is most important in stealing bases.
Old and new timers
labeled the Utley [take me out of the ball game] slide as playing the
old-fashioned way: hard-nosed, aggressive. by the book, team-first, and taking
one for the team.[10] Kansas City’s Hal McRae developed a
reputation as a no-holds barred take out slider with slides ranging from
shoulder contact to leg whips popularly executed in the junk sport of
wrestling. To stem the possibility of seriously injuring an infielder, MLB
initiated the [McRae or “neighborhood rule”] shortly after Royals’ outfielder
took out the Yankees’ Willie Randolph in the 1977 ALCS.[11]
Interpreted, baserunners on a sure force play would be called out if a
fielder’s foot was close enough to the bag so the ball would be released sooner
to complete a double play. The baserunner was also disallowed to intentionally
contact the fielder unless he could reasonably reach a base with any part of
his body and had slid on the ground before contacting the fielder.[12]
[insert Utley October 10, 2015 slide here]
The McRae rule did
not move managers, coaches and players at the professional of amateur levels to
safely teach and apply the safest methods of sliding into bases or home. In
fact, because of baserunner’s employing the head first in stealing, executing a
feet first slide take out or slide at home became a dilemma for players who had
never learned a correct bent-leg or hook slide during their formative years in
the game.[13] Hence,
the double leg whip towards third from a player’s left side or rightfield from
the right side, contacts the pivotperson’s stride leg anywhere from the ankles
to the knees and has become a weapon of
choice for many players in
preventing a double play. A number of
serious injuries have been recorded when baserunners have whipped their legs
from third base side of the bag [Yankees’ Nick Swisher breaking Tsuyoshi
Nishioka’s fibula in 2011], rightfield side of second [ Tejada-Utley], and
lunging over the bag towards left-center [Cardinals’ Matt Holliday injuring the
Giants’ Marco Scutaro’s left knee in the 2012 NLCS].[14]
[insert photo of double leg whip slide here]
The
overwhelming vocal support of the whip leg take out slide in the majors is
puzzling considering it can injure the slider and defensive player. Consider
the comments of Giants’ broadcast crew member and analyst Mike Krukow in the
aftermath of the Holliday slide:
Low barrel rolls [are acceptable]. When
A-Rod took out Jeff Kent and
sprained Kent’s right knee in 1998,
he [low] barreled him. On TV that
night, Kuip [Duane Kuiper a 12 year
MLB second baseman] and I said
[that’s a legit play]. After the
game, Kent was pissed about it. He said
that was a horseshit slide. No, it’s
not. Basically, a low barrel roll—
anything within arm distance of the
bag--is acceptable.[15]
The failure of MLB
to elevate the status of properly researching, applying, and implementing the
proper method of sliding to the same level of teaching pitching mechanics and
care of the arm (i.e. pitch counts, specializations [long, middle, and short
reliever, set-up, closer, etc.]) can be observed at all levels of professional
and collegiate baseball [16]
In systematically observing sliding at selected professional and amateur levels
since 201l, this author reported:
The
most efficient sliding has been recorded at the junior college, four-year
college,
and minor league levels. In comparison, the slides at the major league
and
amateur levels from the high school to the lower levels of youth league
have
been the least efficient.[17]
Particularly troubling is that millions of
people including individuals playing amateur baseball at all ages are viewing
the most skilled baseball players in the world wrongly executing a skill that
can unnecessarily ruin a career in a heartbeat because of a catastrophic
injury.[18]
Although amateur
baseball has implemented a number of stringent rules to avoid serious sliding
injuries, the National Federation of High School baseball rule states in part: A
legal slide in high school may be [head
or feet first].[19]
Combine this rule with the confusion of amateur coaches and players which is exacerbated
when they observe [no holds barred take out slides] at second, home, or on a
force play, and baseball in America has created a recipe for disaster involving amateur and professional players
sliding. Regardless of what a national, regional, or local rules’ book suggests,
the precepts don’t supersede federal or state statutes that recognize the
inherent risk of baseball or softball sliding.[20] And,
do not immunize a coach’s or other sports training personnel’s from legal
liability for unnecessarily increasing the inherent risk of executing a
baseball or softball slide.[21]Let’s
allow MLB or amateur baseball rules and not the courts determine the legality of
a double whip leg or barrel roll side
End Notes
[1] Eliot
Asinof. Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and
the 1919 World Series. Chicago: Holt, Rinehart, and
Winston, 1963,
Sean Devaney, The Original Curse: Did The Cubs Throw The 1918 World Series To
Babe
Ruth’s Red Sox And Incite The Black Sox
Scandal. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.
[2] Jordan
Kobritz. “Piling On Clemons,” Jordan
Kobritz Article Archives, 7 January 2009.
cat
id=68:Jordan-kobritz&Itemid-156.
[3] John
Pinkman. “Youth Baseball Pitching: Teaching Proper Mechanics Critical.” Moms Team, ND,
[4] Tyler
Kepner. “Buster Posey’s Injury Sharpens Debate On Collisions.” 1 June 2011, New York Times.
http:www.nytomes.com2011/06/02/sports/basecall/buster-posey-injury-sharpens-debate-on-
collisions.html? _r=0.
[5] Jules
Tygiel, Past Time: Baseball As History.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2000,
Edward J. Rielley.
Baseball: An Encyclopedia of Popular
Culture. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000.
[6] Mike
Stone and Art Regner. The Great Book of
Detroit Sports Lists. Amazon Digital Services: Running Press.
2006.
[7] Russsell
Roberts, Stolen: A History of Base
Stealing. Jefferson, NC.: McFarland,
1999
[8] Ibid, Baseball
Refereence.Com. Career Leaders & Records for Stolen Bases
Philadelphia: Sports
Reference. LLC,
2000-2015
[9] Mike
Roberts with Tim Bishop. Baserunning:
Leads-Steals-Sliding-and More. Champaign, IL.: Human
Kinetics, 2014
[10] “MLB
Suspends Dodgers’ Chase Utley After Slide Into Mets’ Tejada.” CBS New York, 11 October 2015.
http://new
york.cbslocal.com2015/10/11/dodgers-utley-mets-slider, Jason Turbow. “Sanity
vs. Reality on the
Basepaths: Time to Embrace the New School.” The Baseball Codes. 12 October 2015.
http://the
baseballcodes.com/category/slide-properly.
[11] Scott
Chiusano. “Take me out of the ballgame: the most brutal take our slides in
baseball.” New York Daily
News, 12 October 2015.
http:www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/ballgame-baseball-brutal-takeouts-
Article-1.2394014.
[12] Stuart
Miller. “Safety Sometimes Prevails Over Accuracy in Calling the First Out of a
Double Play.” New
York Times, 3
May 2014.
out-of-a-double-play.html?_r=0.
[13] Jerry
Crasnick. “Craig Biggio argues against rules change in wake of Ruben Tejada injury.”
ESPN.com, ND.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2015/story/_/id/13863565/craig-biggio-argues-rules-change-wake-ruben-
Tejada-chase-utley-collision.
[14] Turbow.
“Holliday’s Had It: Calls Out Cain for ‘Less Than Tough’ Retaliation.” The Baseball Codes, 12
November
2012. http:thebaseballcodes.com.category/slide-properly.
[15] Quoted in Turbow, “Slide Baby Slide: Holliday
Hammers Home Controversy in Game 2.” The
Baseball
Codes, 17 October, 2012.
[16] Al Figone. See More And Talk: Teaching The Mental Aspects Of Baseball: A Handbook
For Coaches,
Players, and Parents. Charleston, SC.:
Createspace, 2013
[17] Al
Figone. An Observational Study Of Sliding Techniques at Major League, College,
and High School Level
in Baseball: 2011-2015, Unpublished Paper, 10 October 2015
in Baseball: 2011-2015, Unpublished Paper, 10 October 2015
Note: For this study, efficiency was
defined as: speed from launch of slide to
base or home contact,
overall safeness of slide, and technical correctness of slide.
[18] Kriste
Ackert, Peter Botte, Roger Robin. “New York Yankees Nick Swisher apologizes to
Twins’ Tsuyoshi
Nishioka for
breaking his leg on slide.” NY Daily News,
8 April 2011.
nishioka-beaaking-leg-slide-article-1.111348.
[19] B. Elliott Hopkins. 2015 NFHS Baseball Rule Changes. Indianapolis, IN.: National Federation of State High
School Associations, 10 July 2015.
School Associations, 10 July 2015.
[20] Eric F.
Quandt, JD, Mathew J. Millen, JD. And John S. Black, JD. “Legal Liability in
Covering Athletic
Events.” Sports Health, 2009, Jan; 1 (1):
84-90.
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