Benjamin Grimm

Good idea for the tie-breaker. I was going to suggest asking Hal the Referee, but he's dead at the present time.

metirish wrote: A question , if you were a professional player other than game time would you wear your teams baseball cap ? I don't know. My first thought was yes, but then I thought that it might make me more recognizable, so maybe not.

Another reason to root for the Rays: A World Series ring for Steve Henderson!

Here's Hal's answer to our first question: http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p276/umdb/Misc/askHal.jpg ="Thomas E. Prell, Lombard, Ill."]Major league baseball, runner on first and third, one out, tie game, late innings, obvious double-play situation. In an effort to break up the double play, does the runner on first have the right not to run toward second, staying in the base path near first and either obscuring the first baseman from seeing the relay throw or even getting hit by the ball? Therefore, the runner would be safe at first and the runner at third perhaps scoring the winning run. Smart baseball? Interference? Or What? ="Hal the Referee"] The runner has the right to the base line on a thrown ball. As long as the runner who wsa on first doesn't wave his arms or commit any other obvious act of interference, it is perfectly legal for him to stand there. It's up to the fielder to throw around him, which is really no problem, for it's done all the time -- as on attempted pickoffs. Remember, a good first baseman knows how to stretch for the ball. Smart baseball? It isn't dumb. Next: ="Tom Sekelsky, Wilcox, Pa."]I have only witnessed the following situation once and I happened to be a player in the game. Runners on second and third and one out. Fly ball to left field and both runners tag. After both runners moved up a base, an appeal was made at second base and the runner was ruled out for leaving before the catch was made. The umpires ruled that the runner from third scored. My manager said the run should not count. The league protest committee ruled in my manager's favor, saying the run did not count. The game was replayed from that point on. Who was right, the game umpires or the protest committee? I also find it amazing that of the hundreds of games I have seen or played, this situation has happened but once.

Are you guys talking about splitting up a 40 or a 15? And how many seats for each game? And how much would the "big check" be for?

That must have been before we learned how wacky the real-life Tom Cruise is.

I think both movies should have to write a song about Bud Harrelson.

I just Googled "Mets radio network" and found a 2007 page that listed these three stations: * WFAN 660 * WADO 1280 Spanish * WOFX 980

One of those five 15-game plans might be heavily oriented towards Sundays. The way I figure it, there are probably 13 home Sunday games on the schedule. Maybe one of the plans is 13 Sundays plus two "bonus" games. Please let us know when you find out more.

For me, this is a nose/face thing. I'd rather have the memento than send the message.

That's good. Not that I have any love for WFAN, but I do like their strong signal. As someone who lives 72 miles (as the crow flies) from the Empire State Building, I want the Mets on an AM station with a strong signal. (If you're curious how far you are from the Empire State Building, or any other place on earth, find the latitude/longitude coordinates of both locations here: http://www.satsig.net/maps/lat-long-finder.htm and then plug the locations into the online form here: http://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/latlong.html )

Gwreck wrote: My own anecdotal study also reveals that the only time I've ever felt truly unsafe while wearing Mets stuff at a road game... was at a Sunday night game in Philly early this year. I hear you. I went with my son to a Mets-Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park last year, and we went "undercover." I wore a Brooklyn Dodgers cap instead of my Mets cap, and my son wore a souvenir cap from Denali National Park. We didn't get any hostility directed our way, but it was such an ugly environment that I don't think I'll go back there again, at least not with kids. If I see a Mets road game in 2009, it will either be in DC or at Fenway, if it's possible to get tickets. (DC will be easy, Fenway might be nearly impossible.)

I don't remember too many specifics... it's been about a quarter century since I saw the movie! I do recall hating that dancing woodchuck, or whatever he was. I recall him doing the twist or something from within a hole in the ground and I was so glad that the movie was finally over.

Not voting in this one. I don't think I saw "Sixteen Candles" and never heard of (or forgot) "Real Genius" Is Candles one of those Molly Ringworm movies?

I loved Raiders, so I voted for it. I don't think I ever saw Fish.

I liked both of these, but memories of Tootsie, for whatever reason, have stuck with me more. So I voted for Tootsie.

I didn't like either movie, but I hated Caddyshack, so I voted Porky's.

No close ones in today's batch, huh?

He's not allowed to stay at first base, but the question is, does he have to run to second?

Hal Lebovitz, a Hall-of-Fame sportswriter, was the author of the Ask Hal, the Referee column, which ran in The Sporting News as well as The Cleveland Plain Dealer. Lebovitz died in 2005 at the age of 89. I thought it might be a fun off-season diversion to dig up some of the old questions and answers from Hal's columns. What I'll do is post a question from a reader and we can all try to come up with the right answer. Approximately 24 hours later I'll post Hal's answer. (I'm not guaranteeing it's the correct answer. Hal could have been wrong, or the rules may have changed in the 30 or so years since the column appeared.) I'll keep this thread going, with another question following each answer, as long as we seem to be interested in it. Let's get started, with a question from 1976: http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p276/umdb/Misc/askHal.jpg ="Thomas E. Prell, Lombard, Ill."]Major league baseball, runner on first and third, one out, tie game, late innings, obvious double-play situation. In an effort to break up the double play, does the runner on first have the right not to run toward second, staying in the base path near first and either obscuring the first baseman from seeing the relay throw or even getting hit by the ball? Therefore, the runner would be safe at first and the runner at third perhaps scoring the winning run. Smart baseball? Interference? Or What?

Rays. For some of the above reasons, primarily the similarity to the 1969 Mets, and the fact that I live among Phillies fans. I suppose I don't have much against the Phils themselves, but I really don't want this fan base to have a World Series victory to crow over. And I have no loyalty to the N.L. I gave that stuff up years ago. And I don't care if it's a good series or not, since I won't be watching. My preference is Tampa Bay in four, just to get it over with.

Huh. I went to Shea three times this year and walked right past that spot each time and never noticed it.

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/8913/069xb3.jpg What's that little building with the red roof on the lower right? Is it the skeleton of the clubhouse shop?

The way I see it, getting Texiera would give us a jump on our 2010 shopping, which is fine. But to address 2009, we need two starting pitchers, a bunch of relievers, and answers to second base and left field.

Brewers announce that they'll be looking for a new manager. Sveum is out.