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1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
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11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with
From the New York Times:
The full-count changeup was a foot outside, and Hideki Matsui, the tying runner who could break Eric Gagne's consecutive-saves streak, took the pitch. After the plate umpire, Jeff Kellogg, called it a strike, Joe Torre recalled anothe game-ending dagger in the Yankees-Dodgers rivalry.
"Sometimes people get caught up in the moment," Torre, the Yankees' manager, said Sunday after their 5-4 loss at Dodger Stadium. "I guess some people are still wondering if that pitch to Dale Mitchell (to complete Don Larsen's perfect game) was a strike."
From Eric Enders, per my request:
First, there's no way the Matsui pitch was a foot outside the strike zone that was in effect for this game. It was maybe 10 inches off the plate, and 4 inches outside the home plate ump's strike zone. It wasn't a strike, but they're overstating things.
In 1956 there was no centerfield camera, so we really have no way of knowing whether the Dale Mitchell pitch was a strike. In the existing footage it looks highly questionable, but it's far from conclusive. From what I've read, almost everyone who witnessed it thought it was a bad call. Few of them made a big deal out of it, since it didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.
The Mitchell pitch seems like it was one of those that often gets called a strike when it shouldn't - a half-hearted check swing on a pitch that's almost, but not quite, over the plate. The batter doesn't go around enough for it to be called a swing, and the pitch is not quite close enough to be a strike - but the combination of the two is usually enough to get him called out.
I did a little bit of research, and here's what people said:
Rube Walker: "I have to say that Babe Pinelli's called third strike on our final batter, pinch hitter Dale Mitchell, was actually a ball." (from Danny Peary's "We Played the Game")
Pinelli: Mitchell "thought it was a lousy call, but he was crazy to take it. Pictures later proved that it was a strike." (from Glenn Dickey's "The World Series.")
Pinelli: "It was a fat pitch. No hitter will see a much better strike." (N.Y. Times, 10/9/56)
Pinelli: "It was a fast ball. It was right over the middle -- an easy call. It was the first perfect game I've ever seen, of course." (L.A. Times, 10/9/56)
Frank Finch, L.A. Times: "It looked a little outside, but Mitchell took it." (L.A. Times, 10/9/56)
Fred Lieb: "It was a pitch shoulder high, and Mitchell stood at the plate grousing at the umpire's verdict." ("The Story of the World Series")
Dale Mitchell: "'The ball was this far outside,' said Dale, measuring a distance of almost a foot." (N.Y. Times, 10/9/56)
Here's one of my favorite baseball facts: The two rarest things ever to occur in the World Series were Larsen's perfect game and Bill Wambsganss's unassisted triple play in 1920, a line drive off the bat of Clarence Mitchell. So both of these extremely rare events were the result of an out made by a Dodger batter named Mitchell.
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