Angels use their bare hands in old school gloveless putout
Baseball gloves are one of the game’s most important innovations. In regular use since the 1890s, it makes the life of a fielder not just easier, but less painful. But a glove isn’t right for every play, and sometimes there just isn’t enough time to use it. Los Angeles Angels pitcher Jhoulys Chacin and first baseman C.J. Cron discovered this on Tuesday, and had to go old school to make it work.
Chacin was on the mound in the top of the fifth inning of the Angels’ game against the Minnesota Twins, and he was facing center fielder Byron Buxton at the plate. Chacin threw him one pitch, and Buxton pulled the bat in front of him and laid down a bunt that dribbled up the first base side and rolled toward Chacin on the mound.
Chacin sprang into action immediately, running off the mound and grabbing the slow-rolling ball with a bare hand. He made the throw to Cron while he was still bent at the waist because there was no time to do anything else — Buxton was blazing up the first base line, trying to beat out the throw.
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Cron had run over to the bag as soon as he saw the bunt land, and he was ready for the throw. But a ball thrown from Chacin’s position might not be right on the money, and this one wasn’t. Cron had started to put his glove out in front of him, but stuck out his right hand and caught the ball with that when he saw the throw was leaning toward the side of the bag. The ball landed in Cron’s hand just milliseconds before Buxton hit the bag, and he was out.
Plays with one barehanded fielder are relatively common, but two is a rarity. Though oddly enough, there was another double barehanded play on Sunday involving Orioles’ reliever T.J. McFarland and first baseman Chris Davis. This is probably not the start of a new trend (especially since these plays are so hard to pull off), though it is fun to watch players harken back to the days of yore and unintentionally re-enact old-timey baseball plays.
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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher
