Freel and Cota, Take 2

by Vlad on May 30, 2007 9:03 AM EDT Comment 3 comments

Ryan Freel is on the disabled list, and the truth is out.

Why wasn't Freel's catch of Humberto Cota's long drive one of ESPN's Web gems? Because Freel didn't catch it.

With evidence mounting, Norris Hopper confessed that he put the baseball in Freel's glove after they collided and Freel was knocked out and taken to a hospital."

Not sure exactly how I feel about this. On the one hand, I'm of the school of thought where it's not cheating in baseball if you aren't caught, and the play does have a nostalgic 1890s vibe to it. On the other hand, it's not like Cota has a lot of hits to spare, and you have to wonder what Freel thinks about the whole thing, where his teammate's initial concern was over the hit rather than the collision.

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Caught?

I think the notion of "caught" may not be the same today as it used to be. You might say that Hopper was, in fact, caught. Just not in the act. I initially want to say that Hopper should be suspended. Not severely, maybe one game, with a statement about sportsmanship.

But then I thought, how different is it from an OF that short hops or traps a ball, like Bay did last night? He half-heartedly tried to sell it as a catch, but it was correctly, ultimately ruled no catch. But you see that sort of stuff all the time. That one was blatant, others aren't. How obliged is a player to admit he didn't catch it? Not at all I think. Often on a diving play, the player may not even be sure if they did catch it in the air.

Still, Hopper's actions were more... willful. He took advantage of the umpire not being in a position to view the ball, where a trap is generally in full view of an umpire to begin with. I find it hard to just wink and nod at what Hopper did.

azibuck

by azibuck on May 30, 2007 2:46 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

cheating

There's the old school going back to guys like Leo Durocher, both as a player with the Gas House Gang in the 30s (gasp) and as a manager that says do whatever you can get away with. They forced some rule changes like the infield fly rule. I don't think baseball has gotten very far from that attitude. Nor have other major sports. I'm thinking of basketball with all the flopping (whining, says Shaq), that a purist like me hates (and can't understand how a ref could fall for that shit.

But not everywhere. Tennis players have been known to give back points when they no a linesman's call was wrong in their favor. Put me down on that side.

by rogero on May 30, 2007 5:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs