In Monday’s post I linked to a story from John McGrath in which he wrote about the lost art of stealing home.
My plan at that time was to link to a blog post that I was sure I had written before, about the only time I’ve ever seen a straight steal of home plate. But according to the search feature on this page, I have never written about the day Charles Gipson stole home. So let’s do that.
Some of you guys may remember Charles Gipson. He was a utility player in the major leagues: he could run like the wind, he could play excellent defense at many different positions, and he wasn’t much of a hitter.
Gipson played a key reserve role on the 2001 Mariners team which won 116 games: he played in 94 games, mostly as a pinch-runner and defensive specialist. He had just 72 plate appearances in 94 games!
But in 2000, Gipson was riding the shuttle back-and-forth between Tacoma and Seattle. When he was in Seattle, he would sit on the bench. When he was in Tacoma, he would start every game and work on his hitting.
“Super Charles” had a great attitude about riding the shuttle. Usually when a player gets sent down he takes his time reporting to Tacoma, and might mope around for a day or two. Not Gipson – he would burst right into the clubhouse with a big smile on his face – sometimes the same day he was sent down – and jump right into the lineup.
Gipson had superior athleticism and a knack for the spectacular play. I’ve heard tales of a catch he made at Cheney Stadium in 1998, playing third base: foul pop-up, he dived onto a front-row table on the (original version) party deck, sending cups of beer flying all over the place while making the catch.
Which brings us to June 4, 2000.
The Rainiers were on a road trip to one of my most-missed ex-PCL cities, Edmonton. The Edmonton Trappers were the Angels affiliate that year, and one of their top prospects was right-handed pitcher Ramon Ortiz (who would go on to have a nearly ten-year MLB career).
In the top of the sixth inning, Gipson laced two-run triple to give the Rainiers a 4-3 lead. After Joe Oliver lined out, there were two outs and Carlos Guillen was up.
The Rainiers manager was Dave Myers, who was in his fifth and final year at the helm of the club. Like all Tacoma managers he also coached third base.
Myers had managed Gipson for years – not just for the preceding four years in Tacoma, but also in Double-A and Single-A. After the game, Myers said it happened something like this (I am paraphrasing from memory, so this is not an exact quote):
“For years, every time Gipson gets to third base he asks me if he can steal home. It’s always the same thing – ‘Let me go, I can get this guy.'”
Like a father who gets tired of repeatedly telling his young son he cannot stay up past his bedtime and play video games, Myers gave in. To hear Dave tell the story, he sighed and said, “Alright, go ahead.”
Myers knew there were a few factors in Tacoma’s advantage:
- Ortiz was a right-handed pitcher (not good for a steal of home), but for some reason he was working out of a full wind-up with a runner at third base.
- Telus Field in Edmonton had an Astroturf infield and real grass outfield. The turf infield had dirt cutouts around the bases and home plate, but the base paths were 1980s-style carpet. It was a “fast track.”
- Guillen was a switch-hitter and was batting left against Ortiz. I’m not sure if this works for or against an attempted steal of home – the batter is not in the way (and you don’t have to worry about him swinging), but the catcher can see the runner out of the corner of his eye.
Up in the broadcast booth, I was very lucky to see the whole play develop. This is a classic example of a tough play to call, because you never anticipate a straight steal of home – it’s the only one I’ve seen in my career! Due to some stroke of fortune, I actually saw Gipson break to the plate and had a decent call.
Gipson took off as soon as Ortiz started his big, slow wind-up. He raced down the artificial turf baseline, went into an aggressive feet-first slide as soon as he hit the edge of the dirt cutout, a startled Carlos Guillen leaned back and took the pitch, the catcher handled the ball and tried to make a tag, there was a giant cloud of dust, and the umpire spread his arms and yelled “safe!”
It was a classic example of one of the most exciting plays in the game – and one I haven’t seen in 14 seasons since.
(The Seattle Times was not impressed)
Links:
- Everything you want to know about Danny Hultzen and where he is in his recovery from shoulder surgery is in this feature from Ryan Divish.
- Robinson Cano says that the Mariners look like champions on paper, and now it’s time to prove it.
- In Bob Dutton’s Mariners Notebook, we learn that Fernando Rodney agrees with Robinson Cano, and that left-handed reliever Edgar Olmos was claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers*. On Tuesday, Dutton looked at how Felix Hernandez prepares and how James Paxton “bit it” in agilities.
- Willie Bloomquist says he is ready to go after having off-season knee surgery. Given his age and experience, I’m inclined to believe him.
- From the Times, here are some Wednesday morning Mariners musings. And if you missed it, here are some notes and links from Tuesday.
- John McGrath wrote about baseball’s pace-of-play projects, and he is also in favor of reverting back to a 154-game schedule. Hey, if MLB can talk about it, maybe the PCL can talk about going back to 140 games?
- Larry Stone writes that he is in favor of baseball’s effort to speed up play (don’t worry about that link’s URL – strange things have been going on over at the Times website).
- Here’s an excellent column from Bruce Jenkins which explains why the pitch clock is coming to the minors but not the majors.
Check back Friday for more spring training tidbits.
* so Edgar Olmos was olmos almost on the Rainiers. We were going to play this song every time he came in from the bullpen. Bummer.