BASEBALL HYPOTHETICALS
by John Burgeson

Baseball is a passion with friend wife and me. It is a crazy game. This is the first of a series of articles on baseball situations, some really happened; others COULD happen.

Consider the sad case of Richie Stephens, who woke up one morning in August 1959 with a very sore pitching arm. He had pitched a real game, albeit not one played in the major leagues. The game went 35 innings, from 10:00 PM to 5:00 AM. Richie, pitcher for the winning Culver City, went 33 innings, strikng out 41 batters. He did not get the win, however!

Now for a hypothetical situation. The following never happened, but it could have. The Rockies and the Astros play a game in which the Rockies win, 18-17.

Greg Maddux is the winning pitcher, giving up no hits, no walks, no errors. Greg Maddux is also the losing pitcher! And -- Gary Maddux gets credit for a save. Unlike DerFloss Spode, who was a triplet, there is only one Gary Maddux.

How could this be? See ANSWER for the answer, and a new puzzle.


JWB's Home page

940 visitors since 2/1/2008