heard of the runner advancing due to fielder's indifference . WTH is that ? Were the Pirates just tossing the ball nonchalantly around the infield . Those who are not in the know can google Wally Westlake/
I have been following Pirate baseball since the days of Wally Westlake and until today had never
- Thread starter NorCalcLion
- Start date
It's been the rule for several years now. One example - A team with a large lead in the late innings may not try to hold a base runner, and/or make a throw on an attempted steal by an opposing player. This would constitute fielders indifference, and would not be credited as a stolen base.
There is a lot of "fielder's Indifference" in MLB that doesn't make it's way into the score book! Same with "Runner's Indifference", "Pitcher's Indifference", "Batter's Indifference" and, occasionally, "Umpire's Indifference". Ziggy has his own indifference as a result. Especially now that the Pirates are relevant and I can't get a seat at field level between home plate and the first base bag for a dollar. 
I will admit that I watch them on TV or listen on the radio more frequently in the past few years but it is tough to drop a few bills to watch them live.
I will admit that I watch them on TV or listen on the radio more frequently in the past few years but it is tough to drop a few bills to watch them live.
There is a lot of "fielder's Indifference" in MLB that doesn't make it's way into the score book! Same with "Runner's Indifference", "Pitcher's Indifference", "Batter's Indifference" and, occasionally, "Umpire's Indifference". Ziggy has his own indifference as a result. Especially now that the Pirates are relevant and I can't get a seat at field level between home plate and the first base bag for a dollar.
Right...its just a book scoring issue. Baseball wants to account for how people advanced and that goes into things like ERA and total bases. Indifference is, for all intents and purposes, an accounting term for such statistics.
In 1982, the last game of the season Willie Stargell (Pops) hit a ground ball to shortstop against the Expos, out of respect in a game that meant nothing, the SS fielded the ball and did not make a play on Pops, who was running around 1 mile per hour.
Willie tripped over the bag and was safe, but the official scorer was forced to not award Pops a base hit as the Expos intended, because the SS held the ball and made no attempt to complete the play.
Willie tripped over the bag and was safe, but the official scorer was forced to not award Pops a base hit as the Expos intended, because the SS held the ball and made no attempt to complete the play.
Funny, I didn't know that. Phil Niekro, at age 47 in his last game with the Tribe, burst out of the Tribe dougout wearing a bandana as a mask, sprinted (as well as a 47 year old can) onto the field and dove headfirst into second base. He looked at the umpire who signaled 'safe'. PN then pulled the base out of the ground and ran back to the dugout to wild cheers. Later, he said that he always wanted a "stolen base".
There's also ownership indifference. That is when the owner of a pretty good team won't take on salary at the trade deadline no matter how good his team is, even if they are enroute to setting another all-time attendance record, and even if his team is in the top third of all teams in the league in profit.
