Magical Plays
Posted: September 7th, 2009 | Filed under: Baseball | 25 Comments »
Here’s a memory: I was standing near home plate on a baseball field in the Dominican Republic. And I watching then Royals manager Tony Pena hit ground balls to a couple of young shortstops. Well, one of them wasn’t quite as young as we thought — that was Angel Berroa. This was just a few months before Berroa’s Rookie of the Year season, and at least a year before he started to age in dog years. He was a good looking player then. He played with a lot of energy, he had pretty good hands, he had a strong arm.
But it was the other shortstop who left me with my jaw dropped.
Andres Blanco was not even 19 years old then. The Royals had signed him out of Venezuela on the insistence of a determined scout who said he would stake his job that this kid would play in the big leagues someday. The Royals weren’t going to sign him … he couldn’t run, and he was so weak that even teenage pitchers knocked the bat out of his hands. But the scout was so insistent that finally the Royals gave up the 5,000 bucks (or something similar) to sign him.
And that day in the Dominican I watched the greatest young defensive shortstop I had ever seen. I don’t want that to sound like it means more than it does … I haven’t seen that many great young defensive shortstops. Usually by the time I see them, they are established big leaguers. But even compared to Angel Berroa — who would, after all, be the American League Rookie of the year in just a few months — the difference was staggering. He moved beautifully. He had these velcro hands — hands so soft it looked like he could catch the ball with the side of his glove. He moved to his left, to his right, Pena could not hit a ball by him. It was so much fun to watch. It felt like going to a bar and watching a band that you know will someday hit it big. I felt sure, leaving that day, that someday Andres Blanco would win a Gold Glove.
Well, it didn’t turn out that way. Blanco had some injury issues. And his bat was SO bad, even in the minors, that there seemed no hope that he would make it to the big leagues. And when he did get to the big leagues for a few at-bats here and there — the Venezuelan scout was right, he WAS a big leaguer — even his defense no longer seemed quite so special. He was flashy and maybe a little bit sloppy. When he was 23, the Royals let him go. And, to be honest, I stopped thinking about him.
And then … there was Sunday. Did you see the play? I won’t be able to describe it well enough if you didn’t … Jeff Francoeur hit a ground ball up the middle. And Blanco — playing for the Cubs now — dived over the middle, gloved the ball. And then — this is the hard part to describe — he sort of rolled over and threw the ball to first in one motion. It was … well, frankly, it was ludicrous. It looked like something you would see in cartoons. “That’s as good a play as I’ve ever seen made at the big league level,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella told reporters after the game.
To which Cubs rookie pitcher Randy Wells said: “That’s nothing compared to some of the plays he’s made in Iowa.”
And … yes, it reminded me of that hot day when I saw this 18-year-old shortstop make all these player in the Dominican dust. Even then, I felt pretty certain that he couldn’t hit well enough or run well enough to be an every day big league shortstop. But that glove, wow, that glove. I guess I that thought that someday Andres Blanco would become a baseball folk hero, the sort of shortstop who makes the magical plays that leave people breathless. And … well, I was left breathless again.
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I saw the replay from yesterday…It was certainly remarkable. The throw was so accurate given how Blanco was still rolling over to get in a position to hurl the ball. Wow!
I witnessed a remarkable fielding season for a shortstop at AAA Albuquerque in 1992 – I think it was ’92. Anyway, Rafael Bournigal was a wizard that year on a very poorly groomed, hard dirt infield. Bournigal had no bat to speak of so he saw very little MLB time but his glove was sensational. He was as nice a guy as he was a fielder as well…. Wonder where Raffy is today? Anyone?
As a Mets fan, I have seen my team on the Washington Generals end of two transcendent plays this season (and, I shudder to think that the season’s not yet over, though it’s been “over” for some time now). First there was Bruntlett’s triple play, just the perfect combination of circumstances. And then there was this one. When do they drop the puck?
Wow! That was him?! I caught the play on sportscenter and I remember thinking that I’d never heard of him. It was a crazy good play.
It seemed like the type of thing that, if I tried to describe it to one of my friends they wouldn’t have any idea what I was talking about. I’m glad to read that someone else thought it was spectacular enough to write about it.
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=6498573
OK . . . that was ridiculous.
Man, I love the Internet. I’m a Met fan, and have given up on the seaosn and did not see the play, but WOW. And all it took was one click — that is the beauty of the Internet.
In contrast. in the early ’90′s I was living with a college buddy in Connecticut and he saw on Sportscenter one night Georghe Muresan do one of the most amazing drives to the hoop (not so amazing if it were MJ, but amazing nonetheless because of who it was). For years, he tried to describe the play to me, now of course, you can see it on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZwPftEQZXg
And af, Francouer hit into both plays
I like to think of it as God’s way of saying, “Jeff, I hate you.”
There are Great Plays. For me, Willie Mays’ catch on Vic Wertz might be the greatest. There are Amazing Plays. For me, the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen on a baseball field is Bo Jackson gunning down Harold Reynolds at home plate – from the warning track. There are Mensa Plays. Derek Jeter’s improbable backhanded backup play against the A’s during the postseason was a fantastic Mensa Play. There are Magical Plays. Blanco’s gem is certinaly one of those.
Then, there are Beautiful Plays. These, I think, are few and far between. Of all the plays we see, some will inspire, some will amaze, some will confound, some will baffle, and some will simply leave one speechless … but I’m particularly moved by plays that are profoundly Beautiful. A Lynn Swann catch, a Griffey Jr. home run swing and a MJ soaring dunk are all Beautiful Plays. They become poetry – they etch into our minds Magical Words that we can’t even utter, much less put to paper (or LCD screen).
Naturally (as with all such categories), these matters are highly subjective, but in all my years of watching this Beautiful Game of baseball, I can tell you that without question – absolutely – unequivocally – that THIS is the most Beautiful Play I’ve ever witnessed.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Ron Belliard:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ir7CHPsSXw
The best thing about that Ronnie Belliard play is you can see Lopez thinking about making the throw to first to go for the DP…
Alexi Casilla had an equally amazing play just a few weeks ago against Baltimore. Dick Bremer having a heart attack caps it off.
BillP: I guess that I’m a bit older (or maybe not since you reference the Willie Mays catch in ’54) but Roberto Clemente was gunning down runners at home and third from the warning track year after year – back when Bo was in diapers. Possibly the most consistently beautiful, amazing feats on a ballfield that I witnessed stemmed from Clemente’s arm. It was amazing on one hand and then expected on the other.
While it wasn’t maybe always the smartest thing to do, (children do not try this at home!) but occasionally Clemente would intentionally muff a grounded single hit to him, keeping the ball near enough to him that then he could either throw out the batter trying to stretch the hit into a double (or single and error on #21) or the batter would take too wide a turn at first and Roberto would then throw back to first to nail the batter there or have him in a rundown. True story – He would do this with no one on base and I saw him deke Hank Aaron perfectly once in Pittsburgh. All Aaron could do was tip his cap. As we all know, their is talent and then there is TALENT. Yes, occasionally Clemente had his faults but rarely when it came to his throwing arm. It was an unbelievable sight to behold.
On a rainy weekday afternoon in the spring of 2007, I was watching a Royals game from the Kauffman Stadium club when I saw a defensive play like none I’ll see again. With a runner on first, a line drive was hit down the right field line, a sure double. The runner from first rounded third to score and got about 10 feet down the line before putting on the brakes and retreating to third. The second baseman, who had gone to short right field to receive the cutoff throw, took the throw and fired an absolute on-target bullet to third base to pick off the recalcitrant runner.
That second baseman was Andres Blanco. I’ll never forget it.
Gary Cohen said “Throwing from the seat of his pants,” but if I’m not mistaken, his backside didn’t touch the ground until after the ball was released.
It looked like he got his leverage from his lower leg – between the ankle and the knee. Pretty darn good.
Granted it was on astro turf in a different era.. but there was this skinny shortstop for the Royals who played at least half the games in 1985 and drovein about six runs and hit like my grandmother…but just look at the 85 world series and watch the amount of ground Buddy Bianncalana could cover…and the arm! throwing out guys from behind third base in shallow left….guy wouldn’t get out AA these days and drove me crazy back then; but he could throw the leather…course I didn’t run any actual numbers..and memory does sometimes play tricks on us…but the ineptitude at shortsop in this organization is..well alot like everything else they’ve done the last 20 years…best shorsops in Kc history? Fred Patek and Greg Gagne? maybe Dick Howser but I never saw him play…
If we’re talking about the greatest plays we’ve ever seen in person, mine is a pretty famous one: Endy Chavez in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS.
Had the Mets gone on to win that game as they should have I think this would be viewed as one of the three greatest defensive plays in baseball history.
Ok, can anyone remember this one? I’ve searched on youtube to no avail. It was when the Mets had that legendary infield with Ventura at third, Ordonez at short, Alfonzo at second and Olerud at first. Sharp groundball up the middle, Alfonzo stabs it running toward left field with seemingly no hope to stop, turn and get the runner… so he doesn’t. Instead, as if they’d been planning this for months, Ordonez is coming from the other side to meet him, well behind second base. Fonzie flips the ball to him from his glove, Ordonez catches it barehand and throws a bullet in one motion. They got the runner by two steps. I it is, and probably always will be my favorite defensive play ever.
I saw Blanco play a couple games when the Royals brought him up to replace Berroa while Berroa was trying to revamp his game in AAA. Blanco was so much better defensively that the GM felt it necessary to tell the press that Berroa was the shortstop of the future and Blanco was just a temporary fill in. Blanco was 19 at the time and his weight was listed on the scorecard as 145 lbs. Now the Cubs’ roster info lists him at 190. I thought (after watching him in two games) that the Royals should sign him to a 10 year contract and build the team around him. I still wonder if they might have been better off if they had, but they sent him down ASAP when Berroa recovered. Blanco’s batting average when they sent him down was a couple points over .300. Granted, they were all dribbles and bloops, but so what? The GM said a major league SS had to be able to “drive the ball”.
The Royals are desperate for middle infielders that can field and they have been for several years. How could they give up on a kid that young who could field that well? Is there any way they can get him back?
@ NMark W
Last I heard Bournigal was a scout for the Mets though that was awhile ago (he signed Fernando Martinez in ’05).
As for him being a nice guy, I remember waiting for autographs outside Dodger Stadium in 92 or 93 after Sept call-ups. He was incredibly apologetic as he had to run…..literally since security was towing his car. After he worked it out he came back and signed for everyone who had waited.
[...] buddy Joe Posnanski (truthfully, I don’t know Joe) wrote a great piece about the first time he ever saw Blanco. [...]
[...] guy REALLY likes Andres Blanco. (HT: [...]
Pretty defensive plays always grab me more than anything else on the diamond. Edmunds back to the plate dive for the angels and Ozzie’s dive and reach with the bare hand to get a bad bounce will always be with me.
This play by blanco fits right in that category.
I note that for the short time he played in KC, he played at 2b (at least part of the time), if Rocky’s memory is correct. Ironic indeed, since people who see Blanco recognize his skill and the KC braindead trust has often talked about having to see people play to understand how good they are.
The best play I ever saw in person was made by Willie Randolph… and he got charged with an error on it.
Playing second base with Mike Marshall playing deep in right field (no range, no jump, he really should have been at first but then where would Eddie Murray have played?) the batter hit a high fly ball to medium right field. Marshall broke back on the ball. Randolph started running. And running. And running.
At full speed, back to home plate, arm fully outstretched, it was like Willie Mays’s catch in the 1951 World Series, except in that case Mays’s arm was not fully outstretched (watch the video). Nice that Mays adjusted in a bit to catch the ball, but Randolph made this catch with nothing to spare.
Then Mike Marshall, running in belatedly from the right field warning track, blows up Randolph who failed to hold onto the ball. It was ruled a three base error on Randolph. Best play and worst scorer’s ruling I’ve ever seen, all in one.
Okay, I’ve got one other possible comparison for best fielding play I ever saw. This one was a bit more famous. 1974 World Series, Game One, Sal Bando was on third base. The Dodgers had Joe Ferguson in right field for his bat (yeah, great infield, not so much outfield) because they had Steve Yeager catching for his glove. Ferguson had a great arm, but wasn’t noted for being fast or a great handler of pitchers. Jimmy Wynn was in center, the toy cannon, and he could run pretty well but had no arm at all.
Reggie hit a high flyball to medium deep center right field. I’m quantifying the distance; it was clearly in center field but on the right field side, and it was clearly deep enough to try to score, even if Dave Winfield/Dewey Evans/Insert your favorite outfielder arm here was playing center field. And against Wynn’s arm even I could have scored.
But it wasn’t Wynn. Ferguson raced over from right field, backhanded the ball in front of Wynn (Ferguson was also five inches taller than Wynn) and threw the ball on the fly to Yeager, who was blocking the plate. And Bando was out.
They said later that they’d discussed having Ferguson take any balls he could reach if the throw mattered. The Dodgers lost the game and the series. But they got their revenge in 1988.
[...] A Lynn Swann catch, a Griffey Jr. home run swing and a MJ soaring dunk are all Beautiful Plays. They become poetry – they etch into our minds Magical Words that we can’t even utter, much less put to paper (or LCD screen). …Continue Reading… [...]
[...] Magical Plays by Joe Posnanski [...]