Little League

Bobby plays Little League baseball and he loves it. He's in the minor leagues and the coaches do the pitching. It's interesting to watch how it's played compared to the Major Leagues. First off, the base runners routinely go on any fair ball, as the chances of the defense making a play are remote. Most outs are strikeouts. But once in awhile the defense makes a play. A grounder to second and a throw to first that beats the batter leads to a big cheer from the watching parents - because the second baseman had to field the ball, make a good throw to first and the first baseman had to catch it - all pretty dodgy things. And I should add that the second baseman had to decide to try to field the ball, had to decide to try to throw it and where, and the first baseman had to decide to try to catch the throw. You can't depend on these decisions either.

Fly balls almost always drop surrounded by players watching it hit the ground. But once in awhile a catch is made. Today I saw an unassisted triple play: Nobody out, runners at first and second, the batter hits a high fly ball to the shortstop. The base runners are almost to the next base when the shortstop catches the ball, steps on second (everyone is yelling at him to do that) and then tags the runner from first who hasn't caught on that he ought to go back. Fun.