00:00Ryan, have you ever made a really big effort and regretted it?
00:04I would say all of my big efforts are regrettable.
00:07So is there, well where did you learn that lesson?
00:10Did you once hustle and then determine it was unnecessary?
00:13Yes.
00:13What was it?
00:14All of them.
00:16I've never hustled and been like, that was worth it.
00:19Every time you've ever run, you've been like, that was a fucking mistake.
00:21That was an enormous waste of time.
00:23Well, we're here to talk about a time a guy should not have been making an effort,
00:27and he did, and it cost him dearly.
00:28Well, good.
00:30This video is presented by T-Mobile, now the best network in America according to Ookla Speed Test.
00:36Go to T-Mobile.com slash network to see how.
00:40So let me first set the scene and then I'll show you the video.
00:42Okay.
00:43The year is 2005.
00:44I'm picturing it.
00:45Red Sox are playing the Blue Jays.
00:47Man on first, Gabe Kapler.
00:50Tony Graffinino takes a big ol' cut and hits a home run, and here's what happens.
00:54Tony Graffinino of the Red Sox hit a home run.
00:57Meanwhile, his teammate Gabe Kapler is rounding the bases, and he eats it, and he is not well.
01:05Oh no.
01:06He was in a great deal of pain.
01:07Well, just give it to me straight, Doc.
01:09What did he do?
01:10While Gabe Kapler was rounding the bases, he fully ruptured his Achilles tendon.
01:15Oh.
01:16And he could not carry on.
01:18Could not run anymore.
01:19Oh, okay.
01:20So this is already...
01:21I see where you're going.
01:22I see where...
01:23You don't know where I'm going.
01:24This could be going anywhere.
01:25Because it was a home run, he really did not have to hoof it, right?
01:29Correct.
01:30Okay.
01:31I don't want to blame Gabe Kapler for this.
01:33You know, the ball's in the air, couldn't hit the wall, like it's good practice to run
01:39the bases like anything can happen.
01:40Sure, of course.
01:41In retrospect, it was a home run.
01:44He could have fucking crawled to second base and it wouldn't have made a difference.
01:48Because he was running so hard over the bag, he tore his Achilles, things would have gone
01:51very differently if he treated the home run like it was a home run from the outside.
01:56And just trot.
01:57But, because it was a home run, the Red Sox got a little bit of good news.
02:02Not Gabe, but the Red Sox got a little bit of good news.
02:05Okay.
02:06Here is a relevant rule.
02:07Yeah.
02:08Rule 510, if an accident to a runner is such as to prevent him from proceeding to a base
02:15to which he is entitled, a substitute runner shall be permitted to complete the play.
02:20So the key word in there is entitled.
02:23What does that mean to you there?
02:25Entitled means you are going to be running the bases pretty much no matter what.
02:32On field team, the defense has no recourse.
02:35This is more of ceremonial, really, running the bases after a home run.
02:39The way they describe it a lot in the rule book is that you have no liability of getting
02:43out.
02:44You are required to go touch all the bases before you go home, but there's no rush and
02:49no one can get you out.
02:50Okay.
02:51I want to come back to that, but keep going.
02:52Ned Kapler must touch second, third, and home.
02:55I think that's dumb, but we'll come back to it.
02:58Okay.
02:59Go ahead.
03:00Ned Kapler.
03:01If he had himself heading from second to third, and he was entitled to third base because of
03:04the home run, he can be replaced basically mid play.
03:08So what happened was he fell down.
03:09They determined he was not going to get up and keep running.
03:12Right.
03:13They took him off on a stretcher.
03:14They brought in a pinch runner essentially in the middle of a play.
03:18And then that pinch runner was entitled to the rest of the bases.
03:21He didn't have to run really.
03:22He just walked his way around third and made it home.
03:25I have already so many questions.
03:26Talk to me.
03:27What's up?
03:28Got to be weird for the pinch runner.
03:29Yes.
03:30Got to feel like you're walking into a dead man's pair of shoes.
03:32Yes.
03:33That's a little weird.
03:34Does the crowd cheer when you come out?
03:36Do you walk out and sort of wave to everyone and be like,
03:39We all know what I'm here for.
03:40Sorry, everybody.
03:41I'm just going to go ahead and do what needs done.
03:43Yeah.
03:44It's just cleaning up.
03:44It's just cleaning up.
03:45Yeah. Sure.
03:46And oh God, what happens if he also ruptures his Achilles?
03:50I think as a bit, at least when you're, you know, going through the motions of going
03:54to third base, you got to be like, oh, wait, me too.
03:58Yeah.
03:59You got to do that thing where it's like, ah, ah.
04:01Just kidding.
04:02Just kidding.
04:03That already happened.
04:04I, he, ah, ah.
04:05No.
04:06Too soon?
04:07Sorry.
04:08Yeah.
04:09Not even off the field.
04:10They still have him on the warning track.
04:11They haven't even opened the door yet.
04:12Is that the extent of your problem with the entitlement here?
04:15For now.
04:16I'll come back.
04:17Because there's another rule we need to talk about.
04:18Okay.
04:19So we know what's going on with Gabe Kapler.
04:20Sure.
04:21He's injured.
04:22You are allowed to replace him because he's entitled to the rest of his bases.
04:25Yeah.
04:26Tony Graffinino hit a home run.
04:28He just saw his teammate crumple to the ground in obvious pain.
04:33What's the moral thing to do here?
04:35And be careful with your answer.
04:36It would be, I think, checking in on your teammate.
04:38You know, going up to them and making sure that everything is okay.
04:42You know?
04:43A friend of yours.
04:44Similar thing happens in football or baseball or basketball.
04:46You break formation.
04:47You go check.
04:48Yeah.
04:49On your teammate.
04:50Sure.
04:51That's illegal.
04:52If he were to check on his injured teammate on the base pads, he would be at great risk.
04:57No.
04:58I know what you're going to say.
04:59Of violating.
05:00Come on.
05:01Rule 509b9 in parentheses.
05:04Uh-huh.
05:05This is a deep one.
05:06A runner is out if blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
05:09He passes a preceding runner before such runner is out.
05:13Sure.
05:14Even if you've hit a home run, you're entitled to all the bases.
05:18Any base you find, it's yours.
05:20Right.
05:21And even if the guy in front of you on the bases is entitled to all those bases, you cannot
05:25pass him on the base pads or you're out.
05:27And I don't know how this would actually play out if something had happened, like if they
05:30would really follow the letter of the law, but Tony Graffinino, you can see in the replay,
05:35stops.
05:36And it's a little awkward for him.
05:37He's like, can we get time?
05:38Like, can we call this for a second?
05:41Right.
05:42Because he correctly diagnoses, this dude's not getting up and I cannot even approach him
05:48because I don't want to make it look like I'm passing him on the base pads.
05:52And so he stopped and just kind of stood there and stared at his teammate in pain, waiting
05:58for someone to collect him.
05:59Oh boy.
06:00And then the pinch runner comes on and they both kind of sheepishly work their way around
06:05the bases.
06:06Okay.
06:07That is, I think, just far enough away to be awkward.
06:10Yeah.
06:11You know what I mean?
06:12Because I think if you're far enough away, you're like, I'm just going to hang here.
06:14I'm going to let them do their thing.
06:15Yeah.
06:16And then if you're like right behind the guy, I think you probably have enough to be like,
06:20hey, hey man, I can't touch you or anything.
06:22Yeah.
06:23Like, are you good?
06:24Yeah.
06:25But just being, that's probably what, 30 or 40 feet?
06:27Something like that.
06:28So yeah, he's just like, hey.
06:29Hey.
06:30You good?
06:31Hey man, you good?
06:32You look so good.
06:33Do you want me to toss you a first aid kit?
06:35Yeah.
06:36Pop that back in.
06:37I think if you just kind of, I can't.
06:39Yeah.
06:40That distance is, that's tough.
06:42I get that.
06:43It's tough, but Homer's a Homer, unless you cross him on the base pad.
06:46True.
06:47Okay.
06:48So this kind of brings me back to the, if you're entitled to bases, you're entitled to
06:51bases.
06:52Yeah.
06:53Why do you have to touch them all?
06:54Yeah.
06:55It could just be you hit a home run and then you're like, cool.
06:57And then so on and so forth.
06:58Going back to the dugout.
06:59Bye.
07:00Yeah.
07:01I get it.
07:02Baseball is all about old school sort of pomp and circumstance and tradition and all of
07:07these things.
07:08That's the funny part about it is because baseball has the thing where, yeah, you hit a home run,
07:12but you still got to go touch all the bases.
07:14Right.
07:15But don't you dare have any pomp.
07:16Don't you dare strut or celebrate.
07:18Oh, that's true.
07:19Yes.
07:20Like there's the circumstance.
07:21There's the tradition.
07:22No pomp.
07:23Some circumstance.
07:24But if you, you have to procedurally act as if you hit a home run.
07:28Right.
07:29But you may not behave in a celebrating way.
07:32Yeah.
07:33See, this is what I'm saying.
07:34We need to get rid of all this.
07:35Here's what happens.
07:36You hit a home run, you immediately get to have a little miniature dance party in center field.
07:40Everyone gets to run out and go and give high fives and you all just kind of go.
07:43Yeah.
07:44Yeah.
07:45Yeah.
07:46Yeah.
07:47You do a little.
07:48What if you hurt yourself while you're doing that?
07:49Mmm.
07:50Then they cart you out.
07:51And then you get a pinch dancer.
07:52And someone else's a pinch dancer.
07:53You get a pinch dancer comes in and it's some rookie who's never played before.
07:56He's like, I don't know what I'm doing here.
07:58It does like baseball's insistence that you touch every base, even if you are entitled to it
08:04and there's no liability.
08:06There's no question.
08:07There's no play to be made.
08:08It's just you're touching them because you're supposed to.
08:10It does create this like gray area.
08:12Yeah.
08:13Where a play is playing out and people are still physically doing stuff.
08:18It just like doesn't count unless the procedure gets violated in some way.
08:24We're just going through the motions and nothing's happening.
08:27The only like comparable things I can think of are like between plays and football when
08:33people are coming on and off the field or like setting up the tee to kick dead balls
08:38and basketball.
08:39Like Nikola Jokic has gotten in the habit of accidentally when the ball is side out like
08:45being inbounded.
08:46Oh, I'm like struggling to pick up the ball and like, Oh, it needs to be wiped off or whatever.
08:51Because though it is a dead ball and it is a gray area and it's a like liminal space in the game.
08:58The clock is still running.
08:59Sure.
09:00So he'll kill clock.
09:01And I guess this happens in soccer too.
09:02Like you just try to kill time.
09:04Baseball doesn't have a clock.
09:05So like, there's just no reason, like you said, for these, these entitlements to exist.
09:11I'm going to call it the, we get it rule.
09:13Yeah.
09:14You Homer, we get it.
09:15You don't have to do all this nonsense.
09:16Come on.
09:17You know what it is?
09:18And I say this as someone who suffers from it myself.
09:20It's OCD.
09:21We don't need to be doing this, but baseball is OCD.
09:24And it's like, I got to touch the, I got to touch this and I got to touch the space and
09:28I got to touch the space.
09:29He said, it's okay.
09:30If he says it, I, I, I got to touch doorknobs.
09:33Uh, you know, pull the car back in and check to make sure the oven is off.
09:36Mm-hmm.
09:37That's baseball maybe.
09:38So you can thank our Patreon subscribers for weird rules getting back off the ground
09:49and back onto YouTube.
09:50If you want to subscribe to secret base on Patreon, you can see a lot more stuff like this.
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