JOSH RICHERT | Baseball produces some of the craziest plays

In case you missed it, one of the oddest plays came up in Saturday's Grapefruit League game between the Pirates and Yankees.

Facing a 2-2 count, Pittsburgh left-handed batter Tony Wolters was fooled by a slider from side-arm New York pitcher Darron O'Day. Wolters swung at the inside pitch for the third strike, but the ball ricocheted off of Wolters' left thigh.

The Yankee catcher picked up the ball and softly tagged out Wolters, who was bent over in the batter's box, to end the inning.

It was a bizarre play, but not one unseen before.

Even Yankee manager Aaron Boone said he was once called out on strikes against CC Sabathia in the same fashion.

I have seen lots of unique plays in just about every sport I've covered in my 17-plus years at the Gazette.

When I saw the video of Wolters' unfortunate strikeout, it immediately reminded me of a high school playoff baseball game for Pleasant Grove, which I covered for the first decade of sports journalist career.

I believe it was Cole Riddell who was facing a similar count (either 1-2 or 2-2), and Cole was hit atop the helmet. He proceeded to walk to first, but the home plate umpire called him out on strikes. The ump ruled that the ball was in the strike zone, along with Cole's dome, when the ball made contact, hence a third strike and out were called.

To this day, that was perhaps the most bizarre outcome of a baseball play I have witnessed in person. The most odd would probably have been Randy Johnson throwing a fastball and connecting with a bird halfway to the plate; that video still make me laugh as the ball seems to explode in midair on the way to the plate.

In football, I have has seen a fourth-and-goal punt, after the team reached inside the 5 yard line only to suffer from a slew of offensive penalties, along with a couple of negative-yardage plays. I believe they were back to the 47 when they punted the ball.

In basketball, I have seen teams come back from double-digit margins with only seconds remaining on the clock to win the game.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I saw a player take an in-bounds pass in basketball and score in the wrong goal; honestly, this has happened more often than I would like to admit.

I once saw Jason Boston, who has coached at several local and area schools, call for his defense to just stand in front of the bench at the end of the playoff game as the opposition took the ball down-court in the final seconds. The PG Lady Hawks were up four points, and the other team was out of timeouts.

There was only going to be time for them to run one play, and the only way they could tie the game was if PG fouled on a made 3-pointer and if the PG players stayed put, no foul was possible. It was still odd to watch.

I once saw a softball player slide into second base, dislocate a finger, be subbed for on the bases, had someone pull the finger to put it back in place, and returned to the field at shortstop the next half inning.

I have witnessed a couple of triple plays in my lifetime. I have also seen a base runner called out for passing the runner in front of them.

Sports bring us some of the most unique and bizarre instances, and no matter what the level the competition, there's always a chance to see something that can become a memory for a long time.

For some reason, baseball always seems to multiply the chances of bizarre experiences.

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