Baseball weirdness...

I got this story from Yahoo! Sports and I was just going to type in my own description, but it was just too good to do that so I just am putting it word for word in here. It's got a video too which is the main part, but if you've lived for any time in NE GA, you'll find the story a little interesting.

Here it is: They say the great thing about baseball is that there's always a chance you might see something that you've never seen before. They also say high schoolers are prone to do stupid things.

But have those two maxims ever collided in such strange fashion? Take a look at this clip from a high school game in Georgia, which some believe shows a catcher intentionally ducking his pitcher's pitch so that it pegs the umpire. It's almost so unbelievable that you have to take a look and judge for yourself.



So exactly what was going on to make the catcher bail on the pitch like that?

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has been on top of the story and is reporting today that the investigation into the incident is 'ongoing.' According to the report, "Stephens County shortstop Ethan Martin, the brother of the pitcher, Cody Martin, had argued with (umpire Jeff) Scott and thrown his batting helmet after becoming the ninth consecutive Stephens County batter to strike out."

On Monday, the paper reported that the Stephens County principal had apologized to the Georgia High School Association, but that the school's coach contended the pitch was a mixup between the catcher calling for a curveball and getting a fastball instead.

But Scott Singer, who was in charge of videotaping the game for the rival team, saw things differently.

Said Singer in the AJC:


"Those two, the pitcher and his brother, the entire game had been riding the umpire about balls and strikes, and [Ethan Martin] got rung up in the top of the fourth, so [perhaps] that was payback in the bottom of the fourth. I don't know what was going through their heads, but when you see a catcher go to his right, it's like 'Good God!'"

Scott wasn't injured on the play and neither he nor the umpires' association have had any comment about the situation. The pitcher and catcher aren't talking either, so stay tuned to see what, if anything, the investigation turns up.

(Given the apparent mess they're trying to untangle, here's betting school administrators wish that their summer vacation had started two weeks ago.)