Favorite trick plays?

I have seen these 2 plays run when my son was on the mound as a 14 yr old. The first one was something the coach set up with the infield. The game was tied at 1 in the 6th inning, with a runner on 3rd and 1 out. As the runner took his lead, our 3rd baseman starts charging towards the plate, yelling "Bunt! Bunt!" Everyone's eyes were on the 3rd baseman, as the shortstop snuck in behind the runner. An easy throw to third from the pitcher, and the runner never had a chance.

 

The other took place at the Beast of the East tournament in Wheeling, WVA. My son took great pride in his move to first, having what he called his "good move" and his "bad move". Son's team was winning, and opponent's team had a leadoff single. Son used his "bad move", tossing to first with the runner getting back easily. The first base coach tells him, "Get off, get a bigger lead" Son tosses to first again, again with the "bad move", and again the coach is yelling, "get off more". Finally, son used good move. Poor kid never had a chance, he was out by 3 feet. First base coach just put his head down and tried to find a hole to crawl into.

My favorite trick play was sound fundamental baseball. It looks awesome when it's pulled.off. In  sixteem years I never coached a trick play.

 

Fundamental baseball is awesome.  I don't coach trick plays either.  But the purpose of this thread is to list some of the more memorable or bizarre trick plays you've seen. Trying to keep it lighthearted here and have some fun. 

A HS rival team, when at home, does this frequently...

When hitting with a runner at first and a two-ball count, hitter and runner are given a signal.  If ball three is thrown, hitter will immediately react as if it is ball four and toss his bat and start jogging to first.  Meanwhile, R1 starts his leisurely jog to second as if advancing on the walk.  By the time the confusion is cleared up, R1 has an easy stolen base jogging slowly without even a throw down.

(I'm totally with RJM, by the way)

We have practiced this play before but never used it in a game. What happens is everyone crashes in like there is a bunt and try scream bunt. The center fielder crashes into second base and the pitcher picks the runner off of second.

Great thread! It seems to me these play will only work against players who have lost focus. My son"s (RHP) favorite trick is to throw the ball where the bat isn't.

You have to give credit for RJM keeping it lighthearted (as you suggest).

 

 

Cabbage- never seen that before but can imagine it would work alot if the kids sell it. 

 

Another one I've seen from a rival HS team is when they have runners on 1st and 3rd, and to get the runner to 2nd base (probably when not a good baserunner) they fake a squeeze.  Runner on 3rd starts to sprint from the base when the pitcher is about to throw....3B coach is screaming GO GO GO, batter squares....runner from 3rd immediately turns and sprints back to 3B as the ball is being caught.  All the while runner easily steals 2nd.  

 

Luckily it hasn't worked against our team ever.

James -- that "eye play" is something else! If it were used against my son's s team, I'd hope the coach would have the pitcher put a real hard fastball in the batter's ribs the next time we saw them -- all in good fun, of course.

The "eye play" should be called a strike. And actually maybe some of our umpire posters can help us out here, but I'm pretty sure that'd be stopped. The batter shouldn't be able to con the pitcher into balking.

 

Only "trick play" I can think of is when we stole home on two consecutive pitches to win a ballgame. Down a run with the bases loaded in the 7th inning with two outs and two strikes. Batter (me) squared as the runner broke for the plate. Batter pulls bat back as the ball comes in and it goes to the backstop. Tie ballgame. Then do it again and the pitch sails to the backstop this time. We win.

This is a good play--not a trick play--if the 3B coach keeps his mouth shut.

Umpire was wrong. This is not a balk.

 

Edit: That was the short answer, as I had some magnificent cheesecake on the way. Full answer: If a batter causes the pitcher to balk by stepping out or the like, the proper ruling is a dead ball and reset. (You can get a strike, but that's a matter of debate.) If I can tell it's intentional, it's a warning for the team on the first infraction, then ejection each one after. The way to deal with this is to train your pitchers to keep pitching unless they see/hear a call of "Time" from the umpire.

Not sure what the "debate" over a strike would be - if the batter has stepped out, the pitch is called on it's merits regardless.

 

Otherwise, yes - this is NOT a balk, and the ump blew one of the most basic calls. Sounds like a training clinic is in order.

 

(as an aside, had a similar happenstance - coach kept egging batter to step out again, ump properly called "strike". Lots 'o' fun w/that one...)

In FED, if a batter steps out and delays the game, a penalty strike is assessed, independent of a pitch or no pitch.

Good pitching and defense.

Fastball low and away.