Sliding Into First Again (No, I'm Not Letting It Rest)

During the encore presentation of the Jason Kubel show tonight (Twins win again over the Angels), I saw Carlos Gomez make it safely to first because of a high throw. The play reminded me of another argument in favor of sliding head-first into first base (by speedsters who know how to do it...not the Kubels or Morneaus of the world).

I didn't present this in my previous post on the subject, but a work colleague and I have discussed it and agree the argument that safety is a primary reason not to slide into first is weak, if not entirely misguided. We think first base is in fact the safest of the three to slide head-first into. Our reasoning:

1) Second and Third are too easy to over-slide. No issues at first.
2) Home plate is most likely going to be blocked by hard plastic armor.

But what's more, and this is the clincher for me, I've personally witnessed badly-sprained ankles by people who hit the bag wrong. Of course, like I say about sliding, one has to "know how to do it," but unlike sliding head-first, you don't always have the luxury of using what you "know" when hitting the bag, because you never know how long that last stride is going to be until, well, that last stride. My son came close to spraining his ankle for this very reason in his last game. Tonight, we saw Gomez hobble a bit after landing on the bag a little awkwardly.

(Fortunately, he was well enough to then steal second, only to get called out, ironically, because his head-first slide into second caused him to over-slide the bag, thus requiring to reach back and touch the bag. He did, successfully, but the umpire inexpilicably called him out. What in Hades the umpire was watching in calling Go-Go out at second, I have no idea. More evidence that major league umpires are overpaid.)

I've yet to see anyone writher in pain after a headfirst slide into first the way a teammate of mine did at State some six years ago after hitting the bag wrong. That said, I suppose I wouldn't want my hand on the bag when someone like Prince Fielder is coming back down to earth after snaring a high throw.

Nothing's perfect I guess...