[quote:1d999829c5="apolivka"]On the sac fly, there is a "rare play" on the chart where the outfielder makes a spectacular catch, but bashes into the wall and all runners advance two bases. Josh ain't no Cool Papa Bell. :)[/quote:1d999829c5]
The White Sox used to have a player by the name of Lee "Bee Bee" Richard who was a complete washout as a hot shortstop prospect in the early 1970s. Bee Bee was very fast and the best thing he ever did in a Sox uni was score from second on a fly ball. It was a deep fly, but nobody crashed into the wall or fell down. He simply out ran the baseball.
I seem to recall someone else on the Sox scoring from 2nd on a fly ball in the last 5 years, but I don't remember who it was.
A google search showed that 38 year old Bob Boone did it in 1986 against the Sox, but left fielder John Cangelosi stumbled after making the catch. Not only was the play rare for scoring a runner from second base on a sac fly, but Dick Schofield also scored from third base on the ball, which was hit by Rupert Jones. 2 RBI on a sac fly, now that's really rare!
Also, Marc McLemore did it for the Orioles against the Rangers in 1992. The newspaper account is below:
[b:1d999829c5]Make no mistake about it, the key run for the Orioles here last night was the one Mark McLemore "stole" in the seventh inning. It was only the second run in what turned out to be a four-run inning -- and an eventual 5-1 win over the Texas Rangers. But pay no heed to what the box score might indicate about this one. When McLemore scored from second base on a fly ball to deep centerfield by Mike Devereaux, the game changed. While the Rangers, reacting slowly, futilely tried to make a play at the plate, Brady Anderson went from first to third on the play.[/b:1d999829c5]
When I was in college, I went from first to third on a slow roller to the SS, but I was running on the pitch and just kept running while the SS nonchalanted the throw to 1B without checking on me. Going from first to third on an infield grounder gave me confidence that I could make things happen on the bases and I did - after a couple of more pitches I had a huge lead and promptly got picked off of third! DUH!