After yesterday's post, a few of my friends and I were discussing the situation at the end of "The Sandlot." Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez is brought in to pinch run at third base. He then stole home for the win.
First, is Benny a bench player or a star? He wasn't brought in until the final inning, and it wasn't even to hit, so did they really value his bat that much? If he were a star, I'd bring him in to pinch hit.
But then he stole home. You don't let a bench player do that. I don't care if he has the speed of a young Ricky Henderson. Scrubs don't risk the game by stealing home. If they do, they will be placed on waivers the next day. Benny must have been an important player for the Dodgers. He looked kind of old, so maybe he was an aging star making a last great run, but he was definitely a starter and a star.
Benny also has a nickname, so he has to be good, right?
Second, what the heck was the coach thinking putting on a steal of home? I haven't watched the movie in a while, so I don't know if they say how many outs there are. But baseball common sense tells us that you never make the first or last out stealing home. It just doesn't make sense. Also, even if there is one out, why on earth would you steal home? Benny obviously has tons of speed, so he can score on even a shallow fly ball. In conclusion, if this coach made the call, he might have been fired at the end of the year.
The call to steal helps support the idea that Benny is a star. If the call was not made, and he did it himself, he has to carry a lot of weight in the franchise. Like I said earlier, if a scrub gives himself the green light there, he is done playing that year. If a star does it, he gets away with it.
Third, the batter at the plate must be terrible. Whether Benny gave himself the green light, or the coach did, they obviously had no confidence in the guy at the plate. But once again, if that guy was so terrible, why not have Benny pinch hit for him?
Which then brings us back to the coach. Nothing he does in those two minutes makes any baseball sense, but it works.
In conclusion, Benny is a star and the film's director obviously didn't know much about baseball.
Boys of Summer - Don Henley
he made it to the big leaugues cuz of his speed my friend, his nickname was benny the jet so he was utilized as a pinch runner for needed situations like the end of the movie where they needed a crucial run
ReplyDeleteChoice, thanks for the comment. But do you think he was a star or a just a situational guy? I stand by my idea that he had to be a star because a bench player doesn't make that play on his own. And if the coach made that call, then he went to the John Russell school of base running and was probably out of a job by season's end.
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