Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Around the Horn

Okay, all you fine baseball minds, answer me this:

When the infielders throw the ball around the horn after a strikeout, why do they always skip the first baseman?

Posted by Orel at 6:00 AM
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13 comments:

Unknown said...

I was at the Cardinals-D'backs game this past weekend with my wife's family and, being a former first baseman, was ranting about that same thing.

7/22/2009 7:42 AM
Xeifrank said...

Probably because he'd throw the ball into left field and delay the game.
vr, Xei

7/22/2009 7:45 AM
Josh S. said...

The best I can figure is:

It goes "guy who made the out" to 2nd to short to 3rd. So if the out is at first, the first baseman would be involved. On a strikeout, it goes catcher to 2nd to short to 3rd.

(I could just be making this all up.)

7/22/2009 7:58 AM
Unknown said...

You will notice that with some catchers, when a right hander strikes out, the horn starts at first base.

7/22/2009 8:42 AM
Steve Sax said...

With EK at first base, any errant throw knee-high or lower might lead to a two-base error.

With Loney, we should be okay.

7/22/2009 8:57 AM
Kyle Baker said...

The around the horn thing, and its quirks and permutations, intrigues me. I'd like for Ken Burns to do a 12-part series on the subject.

7/22/2009 9:03 AM
Nostradamus said...

"With EK at first base, any errant throw knee-high or lower might lead to a two-base error."

Says Steve Sax with no small amount of irony.

7/22/2009 9:10 AM
DanGarion said...

I think that only started after Pedro Guerrero played 3rd... Because they wanted to give him and Sax some extra practice...

7/22/2009 10:35 AM
Dusto_Magnifico said...

Around the horn is a "bases empty strikeout" situation. Sometimes teams go around the horn on an easy play to first with the bases empty, but why the first baseman is skipped... I have no idea, maybe he gets enough touches anyway, so they just skip him... yeah, great baseball fodder talk anyway.

7/22/2009 10:42 AM
Matt said...

I read somewhere that it's a practice to keep the infielder's arms warm.

That doesn't explain why the 1st doesn't get a touch, but I've always assumed that it's because he gets a lot of touches recording outs.

7/22/2009 10:59 AM
Steve Sax said...

Mr Customer, fair point. Around the horns that included me usually ended up in the loge section.

And don't get me started on Mackey Sasser.

7/22/2009 11:08 AM
Wesley Vento said...

I think that you are misusing the term "around the horn". In my baseball education, "around the horn" is a double play started at 3rd (3rd to 2nd to 1st). This was also something we used to do at baseball practice when taking infield: the coach would drop a bunt down and yell "around the horn!" and the catcher would throw to 3rd, 3B throwns to 2B, 2B throws to 1B and then 1B back to the catcher.

When a routine ground out is made, the players "throw it around" beginning with the 1st baseman throwing to short, short flipping to 2nd as the 3rd baseman takes a couple of steps in toward the mound to toss the ball back to the pitcher. On a strike out the catcher throws down to 3rd, 3B throws to 2B, 2B flips to short as the 1B takes a few steps toward the mound to give the ball back to the pitcher.

That's how I did things in little league, I never pay attention to what they do in the bigs other than notice when the catcher throws down to 3rd after a K with nobody on.

That was really long. Sorry. Go Doyers.

7/22/2009 12:07 PM
Orel said...

Thanks to everybody who responded. This has been very educational for me.

7/22/2009 2:13 PM

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