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Fans, today I'm going to talk about the so-called art of stealing home.
Actually, it's not too much we can talk about because it's a matter of split-second timing.
But we'll begin this little expose right after we hear this important message.
The art of stealing home actually isn't an art of all. It's, I think, split-second timing.
Everyone knows that you can't outrun the baseball.
And so a lot of people wonder, well, how is it possible then to get 90 feet when the pitcher has to throw the ball a lot less distance than that and still make it home safely?
Well, first let me point out one thing about stealing home.
It's practically impossible for the manager or the coach to give you a signal to steal a home on this particular pitcher on any given pitch
because you can't tell whether or not the pitcher is going to go into that extra wind-up.
And if he doesn't, you're a dead duck at home plate because, as I said earlier, you can't outrun that baseball.
So then how does a man get 90 feet when the pitcher throws, well, about 65, 70 feet, whatever the distance is?
And I say it simply this. When I'm on third base, I take a pretty big lead off of third base.
When the fellow goes, the pitcher goes into his wind-up. I move up as far as I possibly can.
And if he takes an extra wind-up, that is when and only when you can determine whether you can get home or not.
Now, let's take this into consideration. I'm moving up. I get about halfway.
And I quickly flash in my mind, the fellow is going to now throw home on this pitch.
I've got to stop dead and go back towards third base as fast as I possibly can or else I'm out the other way.
So I actually reflex this inner end of this thing as much as anything else, too.
I think it's kind of silly, as I did in the World Series, to attempt to steal home when you're two runs behind
or if you're two or three runs out in front. Sometimes you do it for, well, tactical reasons.
I attempted to steal home when we were two runs behind because we had been a team that was playing strictly orthodox baseball.
We had been beaten day in and day out. It was my idea that perhaps if we did something unorthodox, it might spur the ball club up.
So with two runs behind, in the eighth inning, I stole home.
Many people were critical of me, but they didn't realize that there was more to it than just the attempt of stealing home.
Well, this is all there is, in my opinion, in the stealing of home, knowing yourself, knowing baseball, knowing the fellow that's pitching on the mound.
If you make it, you're lucky. I was lucky some 20 times during my baseball career.
And I think, very frankly, that this is one of the most thrilling plays in the game of baseball.
I don't know whether I helped you or not, but that's the way I did it.
And that just about does it for now, fans. See you soon.