Top 25In-Person Baseball Rarities

[Gwreck]

Was challenged (elsewhere) to come up with the [crossout]20[/crossout] 25 best "rarities" as a bingo-card sort of thing to see how many you've seen in person at a game.

Looking for feedback. Any rare events that should be on the list but aren't?

PITCHING RARITIES
Four strikeouts in one half-inning
No-hitter
Perfect Game

PITCHERS OUT OF POSITION
Relief pitcher batting
Pitcher pinch-hitting and getting hit
Pitcher home run
Pitcher playing positions

PLAYERS OUT OF POSITION
Position player pitching
Emergency catcher
5-man infield or 4-man outfield

HITTING RARITIES
Cycle
Steal of home (not failed suicide squeeze)
Inside-the-park home run
5+ hits in nine-inning game
Three home runs in one game (by one player)
Four home runs in one game (by one player)

FIELDING RARITIES
9-3 putout
Triple play
Unassisted triple play

IDIOCY
Passing runner on bases
Batting out of turn
Interference call on bases
Accidentally (not overthrow) throwing live ball in stands

INFRACTIONS
Player caught with doctored bat/ball
Benches-clearing brawl (actual punches, not just standing around and posturing)

Edited June 13, 2014 by Guest

[Guest d'Kong76]

That's a pretty comprehensive list.

[Frayed Knot]

[crossout:vw9n67qb]Batting out of order[/crossout:vw9n67qb] -- oops, you had that one
Getting called for Interference/Obstruction on the base paths
Throwing/handing live ball out of play
5 or more hits in a game (one player)

Edited June 13, 2014 by Guest

[Gwreck]

The obstruction call is a good one. Think I would dump "3 home runs in one game" for that.

I was tempted to include something with pitching "game scores" (ie. Game score of >95) but I think it should be limited to more tangible things.

[Frayed Knot]

Five-man infield / four-man outfield alignments

[Gwreck]

Can't believe I forgot inside-the-park home run. Updated the list above with thanks to FK.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Bat thrown/wielded as weapon?

[Frayed Knot]

Not sure how exact your wording has to be for this thing, but ... [u:k12ub4dr]Obstruction[/u:k12ub4dr] is what fielders do to runners, [u:k12ub4dr]Interference[/u:k12ub4dr] is what runners do to fielders.
They're essentially two sides of the same coin but could be considered separate things if being picky since one is on the offense vs the other on the defense.

[Edgy MD]

I'd add a successful hidden-ball trick. Is a homerun pullback still exotic enough to work on this list?

What used to be a once-every-few-years rarity that hasn't happened in about 50 years: the courtesy runner. Don't know if the rules still allow for it. Probably not.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

2 or more runners struck by same batted ball. Never seen that but could happen.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I've seen an inside-the-park homer in person, although I don't recall whether it was Darryl Strawberry or Howard Johnson who did it. And I've seen at least one pitcher hit a home run: Kris Benson, as an Oriole, homered off (I think) Pedro Martinez.

I've also seen an 18-inning game, a pigeon struck by a fly ball, a player grounding into four double plays in the same game, and a game interrupted by a parachutist.

[Theoldmole]

Batter killed by pitched ball.
Pitcher killed by line drive. Never happened, but could. Almost happened to Herb Score.

[Guest themetfairy]

Two runners called out at home plate on the same play (Game 1 of the 2006 NLDS).

[Ceetar]

team losing the DH And having the pitcher bat in the AL?

starting pitcher pitching in relief?

14th inning stretch?

More than 23 players in one game?

[Edgy MD]

Been a while since the ol' pinch-hitting manager trick.

Oooooh, lefthanded catcher/lefthanded infielder.

[Guest themetfairy]

Bird killed by a batted ball.

[Frayed Knot]

I suppose these days you'd have to include a replay review that results in either a game-ending reversal (has happened) or even a game-result-changing one (don't believe it has yet).

[Edgy MD]

Let's just say I'm in no hurry to cross witnessing the violent death of a pitcher off my personal bucket list.

[list:u39f2ozk][*:u39f2ozk]Last lefthanded catcher: Benny Distefano, August 18, 1989.[/*:m:u39f2ozk]
[*:u39f2ozk]Last lefthanded thirdbaseman: Mario Valdez, July 2, 1997.[/*:m:u39f2ozk]
[*:u39f2ozk]Last lefthanded secondbaseman: Don Mattingly, July 24, 1983 (the continuation of the pine tar game, I believe).[/*:m:u39f2ozk]
[*:u39f2ozk]Last lefthanded shortstop: Mark Ryal, September 4, 1987.[/*:m:u39f2ozk][/list:u:u39f2ozk]

[metirish]

A Chris Young HR