Baseball

Two baseball teams had battled to a five-all deadlock as darkness enveloped the diamond. In the last half of the ninth inning with the bases loaded and the count three and two, the pitcher called for a conference with the catcher. “I’ll wind up and pretend to throw the next pitch. You wham your fist into your mitt like you’d caught a strike, and maybe the ump will call it that way.

It might work.” The catcher nodded. In the interim, though, the opposing coach cooked up his own strategem, quickly relaying it to the batter. When play resumed, the pitcher wound up and apparently let fly. The batsman swung mightily and the crack of ball against bat (the coach’s work) echoed through the park. The batter circuited the bases for a grand slam, and the game ended, 9 to 5. Sullenly the pitcher walked from the mound. Had he confessed that he’d failed to throw the ball, the runner on third would have scored on a walk.

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