I have always felt that baseball is a thinking person’s game. That’s why I so enjoy a good trick play. Here are a few of my favorites.
Before I retired, I covered high school sports for The Reporter, the newspaper of Vacaville, California. While covering a game between Vacaville High and Rodriguez High, Rodriguez pulled off a play I had never seen before.
The Double-Suicide Squeeze: Vacaville led 7-4 heading into the top of the fifth inning. Danny Marino, who had relieved starter Kyle Bender, walked Jason Booker and hit Trentin Schmidt with a pitch to begin the frame. Kaden Wilde singled to load the bases, and Booker scored on an infield error on a ground ball by Robert Searcy to make it 7-5 and keep the bags loaded. A passed ball scored Schmidt and put runners on second and third with no outs.
Marino struck out the next hitter, bringing up senior designated hitter Colin Medeiros. With both runners going, Medeiros laid down a bunt between home and the mound. Marino threw to first to get Medeiros, with Wilde scoring easily. But Searcy never stopped as he rounded third and headed home. First baseman Brewster Mott threw home, but Searcy slid and beat the throw by an eyelash to give the Mustangs the 8-7 lead they would not relinquish.
Here is a visual representation of the double-suicide squeeze as executed at the college level by the University of Michigan Wolverines.
Grand Illusion Trick Play: In a 1982 College World Series game, Miami pulled off a great trick play against Wichita State. In a second-round matchup, the Hurricanes executed a gimmick that helped defeat the favored Shockers. Wichita State’s Phil Stephenson, who had stolen 86 bases in 90 attempts, was on first base.
The Miami pitcher stepped off the rubber, wheeled around, and pretended to throw hard over to first base. But he never released the ball. The first baseman pretended to lunge after the fake wild throw, and two Wichita State players rose to the steps of the dugout and pointed to where the fake throw supposedly went and yelled, “Ball! Ball!” Stephenson, thinking the ball was bounding away past the first baseman, lit out for second base, whereupon the pitcher calmly threw to the second baseman, who tagged the bewildered Stephenson out before he even got to the base.
The same play has been used by several high school baseball teams, with the variation that the runner is on second base. The pitcher steps off the mound, pretends to throw hard to the second baseman covering, who pretends that a wild throw has gone past him. The centerfielder races in as if to retrieve the ball, whereupon the runner takes off for third. The pitcher calmly throws to the third baseman, who tags the runner out.
Feeling Safe? Then We Gotcha! A more basic trick play, and one that we used when I played high school baseball, is performed with a runner on second base. The shortstop comes from behind the runner who is taking a lead off second base and bluffs that he is going to cover second base, making sure the runner sees him. Then he retreats to his position at shortstop, ahead of the runner, again so the runner can see him. The runner, now feeling safe, instinctively increases his lead off second base, whereupon the second baseman quickly runs over to cover second base. The pitcher simultaneously fires to second to pick off the runner.
You wouldn’t think a Little League trick play would work in the Major Leagues, but it did on at least one occasion. The Brewers and Diamondbacks played in Arizona on September 14, 2024. In the top of the first, the Brewers had Garrett Mitchell on third and Willy Adames on first with two outs. With a 1-2 count on Jake Bauers, Adames lit out for second base. Diamondbacks catcher Adrian Del Castillo threw toward second base, but, in a designed play, pitcher Brandon Pfaadt cut the throw off and fired to third baseman Eugenio Suárez, who tagged Mitchell off the base for the third out.
The Fake Walk: The Oakland A’s took the first two games of the 1972 World Series from the favored Cincinnati Reds in Cincinnati. One of the Series’ most memorable plays occurred in the eighth inning of the third game.
There was no score after six innings. The Reds struck in the seventh inning. Tony Perez led off with a single. Denis Menke sacrificed him to second, and Cesar Geronimo singled to center, scoring Perez to make it 1-0.
Left-hander Vida Blue came in to pitch the eighth inning against the Reds. Pete Rose lined out to first. Joe Morgan walked and moved to third on a Bobby Tolan single. A’s Manager Dick Williams brought in Rollie Fingers to face Johnny Bench with runners at the corners and only one out.
Tolan stole second, which dictated an intentional pass to the Bench, but Dick Williams had Fingers pitch to Bench, with Perez on deck. Rather than go for the potential inning-ending double play or the possible force out at home, he pitched to Bench.
The count went full when Williams appeared to have a change of heart. He strolled to the mound and had a brief conference with Fingers and catcher Gene Tenace, signaling to them as if to give Bench ball four. Tenace went back behind home plate, stood tall, and signaled for ball four as he moved to the right.
Fingers went into his delivery, but Tenace jumped back behind the plate as Fingers was delivering the ball. Fingers fired a slider that caught Bench napping as it caught the outside corner for a called third strike. It didn’t matter; the A’s never scored.
The Oldest of Them All: The Hidden Ball Trick: The hidden ball trick is perhaps the best known. Former Red Sox second baseman Marty Barrett successfully pulled it off three times. After covering first base on a sacrifice bunt, Barrett would keep the ball. The pitcher would pretend he had the ball and get ready to take the mound. The runner would take his lead off second base. “Nobody was watching me,” Barrett said. “So, I’d just reach over and tag him out.”
Here’s a good look at that trick play, executed in this case by the Rays against the Dodgers.
