Bloody finger

[FleasOf1000Camels]

Bauer's bloody finger (ALCS game 3) reminded me of a good one I had 10-12 years ago.  13u tournament, OBR except for a few modifications that mimic FED...including all the FED blood rules.

Top of the 1st, runner going 1st to 3rd on a base hit..he slides head first, and F5's heel comes up off the ground as runner's right hand reaches bag. Runner's hand clips F5's spike.  Runner is safe, but bleeding profusely from a 2" gash from knuckle to knuckle down the back of his right ring finger.  There's blood all over the front of his pants and, while I'm no medical expert, it's pretty obvious to me that that this is going to require more than just a bandage.

Coach: How much time can we take to patch him up?

Me: I'm a reasonable guy, do you really think he can continue even if I allow a reasonable delay?

Coach: Can I pinch-run and then re-enter him?

Me: Only if you had a legal sub, but you're batting 'all present'.

Coach: Sorry, I didn't mean PINCH run, how about COURTESY runner.

Me: Tournament rules only allow courtesy runner for pitcher and catcher.

Coach: He IS my pitcher.

Me: (after looking at lineup card) That's fine. (it never occurred to me to wonder how this kid was going to be able to pitch with that gash on his finger)

They insert courtesy runner, and the injured player went off with his mother and another woman (who was a nurse) to get patched up.  Lucky for him, his team had a long turn at bat, and he was patched up in time for him to take the mound.  He even had a clean pair of pants. (I noticed later one of his team's EHs was on the bench without any pants...just compression shorts).  Pitcher's wounded finger is heavily taped as he takes mound to warm up.  My partner and I talk it over, and decide we're not going to do anything about the tape unless the other team makes an issue of it...in hindsight, I wish we had done otherwise.

Surprisingly, the kid is throwing pretty well...but just before his final warm-up pitch, opposing manager approaches me.

OC: Are you really going to let him pitch with that tape on his hand?

Me: I WAS prepared to ignore it, but now that you've brought it up, no...we won't allow it.

Me (to DC): Sorry, Skip.  He can't pitch with tape on his hand.

DC: Which do you want; the tape or blood all over him and the ball?

Me: Neither.  Let's just get somebody else to pitch.

The injured kid went back to the bench, and F9 came in to pitch.  The EH got his pants back from the original pitcher and went to RF.  The injured kid stayed in the game to hit, and before each at-bat he'd borrow pants from somebody on the bench.  It was really quite comical.  He bunted three times; once for a sacrifice, once for an intended sacrifice, but reached on an error, and once for a hit.  He scored twice, the last one turned out to be the game winner...as he crossed the plate, I noticed he was holding on to the top of his pants to keep them from falling off...they were WAY to large.

You can't make this stuff up.

 

 

 

[stkjock]

was he changing pants to accommodate a "blood" rule?

[FleasOf1000Camels]

On ‎10‎/‎18‎/‎2016 at 0:31 PM, stkjock said:

was he changing pants to accommodate a "blood" rule?

I assumed so.  When he left to be mended up, his white pants were soaked from waist to knee. 

I never told anybody he needed to change pants, they did it on their own. 

I didn't noticed he had changed until I happened to see that EH in the dugout without pants.

[stkjock]

Gotcha.  Thanks.