A: Heavenly events are above my earthly existence. I do know, though, that baseball exists in heaven. Two elderly gentlemen, huge baseball fans, told each other that the first one to die would somehow get in touch with the other to reveal if there was baseball in heaven. One died and appeared in the other’s bedroom to give him the news. He said, “I have good news and bad news. The good news is that there is baseball in heaven. That bad news is that you’re scheduled to pitch tomorrow.”
»» ASK HAL: About baseball superstitions
Q: Can you see Amir Garret growing into the Reds’ closer for the future? — JOHN, Oxford.
A: He couldn’t grow much more and fit on the mound. Garrett, a former college basketball player, is 6-foot-5 and 230 pounds. It looks as if his wing span reaches halfway home when he delivers a pitch. And the Pittsburgh Pirates know he isn’t much afraid of anything. For sure Garrett’s 98 mph fastball and cliff-diving slider is deluxe closer stuff. It is just a matter of need for the Reds.
Q: There are runners on third and first with one out. The batter hits a ground ball to shortstop and he gets the force out at second. If the runner on third crosses home plate before the throw to first gets the third out, does the run count? — FRED, Dayton.
A: No, it doesn’t. The double play is continuous action and a run can’t score on the third out. It’s the same as if there were two outs and a runner on third and the batter hit a deep fly to left. Even though the runner on third crossed home plate before the ball was caught, the run does not count. It was the third out. Runs are scored easily enough these days without adding another way.
»» ASK HAL: That was Nasty
Q: The sleeveless pin-striped uniforms the Reds wore recently had a black band encircling the left sleeve, so why? — GREG, Beavercreek.
A: Those were 1961 throwback uniforms. The team’s owner, Powel Crosley Jr., died during spring training of 1961 and the black bands were in his memory. Crosley Field is named after him. And you are real, real old (like me) if you remember the Crosley automobile. It was slightly smaller than a Volkwagen Beetle, a subcompact, that the Crosley family developed, manufactured and sold between 1939 and 1952.
»» McCOY: Braves batter DeSclafani
Q: If catchers are really calling the pitchers, what are all the signs from the manager to the catcher before every pitch? — GERALD, Lebanon.
A: There is only one person who ‘calls’ pitches. That’s the pitcher himself. Catchers put down the signals, but the pitcher either agrees or shakes him off. A pitcher should never throw a pitch he isn’t confident in throwing. The manager is giving defensive signals to everybody and a lot of that nose-tapping, ear-tugging, jersey-rubbing is decoy stuff, no signal at all. Haven’t you seen Yankee manager Aaron Boone’s commercial where he shows a fan in the dugout how to give mean-nothing signals?
»»McCOY: The fines, suspensions hammer falls
Q: Can you see any pitcher ever touching Nolan Ryan’s 222 complete games the way game is currently managed? — BRIAN, Belbrook.
A: Two hundred and twenty-two complete games? I can’t see any pitcher winning 222 games. Starting pitchers are programmed and trained to go five innings — five and fly. And so many times the game is decided after the fifth inning and the starting pitcher gets a no-decision. I can’t certainly see some modern-day pitcher finishing his career with 222 no-decisions.
»»McCOY: All quiet on the Reds/Pirates front
Q: In the 150 years of professional baseball, what person do you wish you could have interviewed? — KOZ, Springfield.
A: That’s an easy one. I would have sat down with the guy in the skimmer hat and the camel’s hair coat, told him, “Please put down that hot dog and that cup of beer, and let’s talk, Mr. Ruth.” I have read at least four books written about Babe Ruth and they all portray him differently. I’d like to see for myself over a long steak dinner and, of course, an expensive cigar.
»»McCOY: No beating these fireworks
Q: True or false, the last time the Cleveland Indians had a Cuban right fielder was in the movie Major League. — BILL, Fairborn.
A: Ah, Pedro Serrano. Now the tribe has Yasiel Puig and they have more in common than their Cubano heritage. Both kissed their bats. But I checked Yasiel Puig’s locker several times and I didn’t find any doll named Jobu. And so far Puig hasn’t stopped running the bases to pick up a bird he injured with a line drive. But stay tuned. To be honest, the Indians once had a Cuban outfielder named Minnie Minoso, but that was in the 1950s and before the movie Major League.
»»McCOY: Hapless Pirates rock Reds
»»PHOTOS: Reds vs. Pirates brawl
»»McCOY: Puig goes out with a bang
»»McCOY: Colorful and productive Reds
»» McCOY: Reds unload 10-spot on Pirates
»» McCOY: Not the edge they were looking for
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Q: Isn’t it time to move Joey Votto from second in the order to sixth and bunch together Jesse Winker/Nick Senzel, Josh VanMeter/Phillip Ervin and Eugenio Suarez at the top? — JOHN, Fairfield.
A: Timing is everything. A couple of weeks ago I would have said yes, yes, yes and do it before it is too late. But in the last couple of weeks Votto is close to being the Votto he has always been and the team is doing better, too. So now I say no, no, no. It’s the old if it ain’t broke don’t tinker and meddle with it.
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