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Predestined?

© Harold Friend

The runner on first breaks for second as Jones takes the pitch for a called strike. The catcher grabs the ball, fires to second and throws out the would-be base stealer, retiring the side. The same batter leads off the next inning.

After the opposition is set down, Jones again steps into the batters' box and gets ready to hit as the tall lanky pitcher on the mound peers in to get the signal from his catcher. The left-hander leans in toward home plate with his elbow on his knee, nods assent and delivers.

Jones picks up the pitch immediately and swings at exactly the right instant, hitting a hard ground back though the box, over second and into center for a base hit, which brings us to the universal question that no one in the universe has been able to answer. Would the batter have singled in the previous inning if the runner had not been thrown out? Does the predestined hit exist?

Part of baseball's magnetic appeal is that in almost every game there are unique variations on familiar themes. Fortunate fans see things they have never seen before while even more fortunate fans may experience things that no one has ever seen. On April 10, 2005, fans at Yankee Stadium saw a play that led some to wonder about the predestined hit, only the hit wasn't a hit.

In the third inning of a game between the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees, Orioles' third baseman Melvin Mora hit a high foul pop fly between first base and the stands. Yankees' broadcasters Jim Katt, Ken Singleton and Michael Kay had just finished brainwashing the television viewers about Yankees' first baseman Jason Giambi's defensive skills.

One of the three gushed about Giambi's excellent hands while the second member of the trio reveled in the belief that while Giambi had limited range, he caught whatever he could reach. The final member of the Three Stooges put in the disclaimer that Giambi's only real defensive weakness was that he got nervous when he had to throw the baseball. Nice.

Back to Mora's foul pop fly. Giambi drifted towards the stands, took a quick glance to see how much room he had, tried to relocate the ball but couldn't because the sun got into his eyes, and then watched helplessly as the ball hit the edge of his glove and dropped to the ground, giving Mora new life. Quite a fine moment for Giambi, Katt, Singleton, Kay, and the Yankees, not necessarily in that order.

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