Just another baseball myth?

[snopes]

ESPN's Bill Simmons was writing in response to a reader's question about the "manliest acts in sports." The reader thought that a baseball player breaking a bat over his knee was the "most manly" thing an athlete could do. Simmons went on to list a top 5 of macho acts.

Simmons' number one manly act was: "the time Johnny Bench kept getting shaken off by a pitcher who wanted to keep throwing fastballs, so he caught the next fastball with his throwing hand."

http://blog.silive.com/sportsspotlig...ball_myth.html

[Malruhn]

That's pretty funny. Even as a non-sports fan, I've heard about the Johnny Bench bare-handed catch since I was a boy.

I can't wait to see if it's true!!

[Johnny Slick]

I don't know. It brings to mind the story about how a scout went out and saw Jimmie Foxx (I think... maybe it was Al Simmons?) running a plow through his dad's farm. He asked him for directions and Foxx (Simmons?) pointed out the direction by lifting and pointing the plow. The point is, like the Bench story it has the look and feel of an old baseball tall tale but at the same time there isn't anything about it that *couldn't* be true.

I could see a young catcher trying to show off catching a ball with his throwing hand. Catchers did not always use mitts, after all, and although they did break their hands a lot and balls were not thrown as quickly as they are today, it's still possible to do if you really wanted to do so.

[snopes]

Originally Posted by Johnny Slick

I don't know. It brings to mind the story about how a scout went out and saw Jimmie Foxx (I think... maybe it was Al Simmons?) running a plow through his dad's farm. He asked him for directions and Foxx (Simmons?) pointed out the direction by lifting and pointing the plow. The point is, like the Bench story it has the look and feel of an old baseball tall tale but at the same time there isn't anything about it that *couldn't* be true.

Except that the "plow" story is much older than Foxx and Simmons and has been applied to a bunch of different athletes (and others), both before and since their time. It's your basic "strong man" tall tale.

- snopes

[Johnny Slick]

Well, I've heard the "caught the pitch with his bare hand" myth going back to John McGraw trying out New York Giants mascot Charlie "Victory" Faust in 1912 (this was a time when baseball teams would hire on a hunchback or midget to bring them good luck and give the crowd something to look at during the slow parts. Faust wasn't either of those but just a guy who supposedly received one whopper of a fortune from a medium and who wasn't, apparently, altogether there). It's not as popular as the plow story, sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if it turned up in one of Goofy Gomez's Lions Club speeches in some way, shape, or form.

Well, of course it's possible, after all, cricket players mostly don't wear gloves (except the batsman, and wicket keeper) and they catch the much harder cricket balls all the time.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Sugarpuff Sandwich

Well, of course it's possible, after all, cricket players mostly don't wear gloves (except the batsman, and wicket keeper) and they catch the much harder cricket balls all the time.

I don't much about cricket. Do players catch the ball barehanded when it's going at 90+ miles an hour? It seems like it would be hard to do that on a regular basis.

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by Steve

I don't much about cricket. Do players catch the ball barehanded when it's going at 90+ miles an hour? It seems like it would be hard to do that on a regular basis.

In a word yes, although I'm not sure it goes that fast.

[forcadragons]

Originally Posted by Steve

I don't much about cricket. Do players catch the ball barehanded when it's going at 90+ miles an hour? It seems like it would be hard to do that on a regular basis.

The wicketkeeper (cf. catcher in baseball) is the only player who would catch the ball directly from the bowler (cf. pitcher in baseball) and he wears gloves. I don't know how fast a well hit ball would leave the bat (cf. line drive in baseball).

I would question "much harder cricket ball". I'm no expert, but they're both pretty hard. They are both made in similar ways (cork core surrounded by fibre, covered in leather) and they are similar weights (5 to 5.25 ounces for baseball, 5.5 to 5.75 ounces for cricket). The baseball is slightly bigger (9 to 9.25 inch circumference to 8 13/16 to 9 inch circumference) and I suppose that the leather on a cricket ball is harder.

"Much harder cricket ball" probably comes from the Englishman's need for his sports to be manlier than those of the (former) colonials. You hear the same old things about baseball ("Cricketers don't need to wear gloves" or "Isn't it just rounders?") and american football ("Rugby players don't need helmets and pads").

[Steve]

Originally Posted by forcadragons

The wicketkeeper (cf. catcher in baseball) is the only player who would catch the ball directly from the bowler (cf. pitcher in baseball) and he wears gloves. I don't know how fast a well hit ball would leave the bat (cf. line drive in baseball).

Ah, ok. Thanks for that. I should have asked what a wicketkeeper is, I suppose.

Having played both baseball and cricket, I can attest that there's not a heck of a lot of difference bewteen the stiffness the ball used in both of these sports. The cricket ball gives the impression of being harder, but this is (in my opinion) only due to the cricket ball having a highly shined surface. Once the shine wears away, so does most of the player's apprehesnion.

Having said that, there are many close-in fielding positions in cricket that are not matched in a game of baseball. Catchers and wicketkeepers excluded, in baseball the closest player to the bat is the pitcher, who is about 60 feet away. In cricket is is common to have several fielders much closer than this - literally only a few yards (or less) from the batsman, where the ball flies off the bat pretty much at the same speed that it hits it. These players may use helmets for protection, but they don't use gloves for catching.

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