After watching SportsCenter on Tuesday night and watching the Chicago White Sox burn bats of outfielder Mark Kotsay who is in a horrible slump, I started thinking about all the weird things that I’ve seen in sports.

I’ve been in sports since I was about 8 years old and even at a younger age, you would see a ton of strange things. Quite distinctly I remember this one time while playing at West Downey Little League when in between pitches while I was on the mound, my left fielder was performing ballerina spins. Whether I was terrible that day, I don’t remember, but still.

Another odd thing I’ve seen while playing and watching sports was when a fight broke out amongst a team during a recreation softball game I was playing in. Yes, it sounds like something out of a movie but it actually happened.

But without a doubt, there have been even more odd things I’ve seen in sports. Coincidentally, topping the list are all baseball happenings, but here’s my top 3.

No. 3: The Disappearing Ball Trick

This has happened a few times, In fact it happened earlier this year to Braves third baseman Brooks Conrad in a game versus the Chicago White Sox. With two outs and a 6-3 lead Chicago’s Alex Rios drilled a ground ball to Conrad. The ball took a couple hops, got to Conrad then disappeared.

Conrad looked everywhere. He looked up, down, left, right but to no avail. Where did the ball go? Well, he smothered it in his chest and the ball went in his jersey. Rios was credited with an infield hit.

Did I mention that the freak incident led to a 3-run inning for the White Sox? They won 9-6.

No. 2: Being No-Hit…..And Winning.

I was lucky enough to actually be in attendance for this wonderful piece of baseball history. Only happening five times since 1900, the Los Angeles Dodgers were hosting the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Anaheim Angels on June 29, 2008 and were no-hit……and won.

In their 1-0 win, the Dodgers were able to snuff out the game’s only run when Matt Kemp led off the fifth inning with a cue shot of the top of his bat that spun like a top down the first-base line.

Angels pitcher Jared Weaver went to field the English-laden grounder but missed the ball when trying to pick it up. Originally a hit was given to Kemp, but it was later ruled an error by the official scorekeeper.

Kemp then proceeded to steal second base and take third on an errant throw from catcher Jeff Mathis.

At bat was Blake DeWitt who scored Kemp on a sacrifice fly. The feat was also only the third time it’s happened since 1961.

“The most bizarre game I’ve ever been part of,” Dodgers catcher Russell Martin said after the game.

Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti thought it was pretty crazy too chiming in after the game with some humor.

“We’ll try to win with one hit tomorrow and work our way up,” he said.

No. 1: Turk Wendell

Everything Turk Wendell should be No. 1. This guy was nuts. He defined insane and if you remember anything about him, made you laugh and laugh and laugh. Here’s a list of things he did:

•Insisted the umpire always roll a ball to him rather than it being thrown. If it was ever thrown, he’d either watch it go by him or take it off the chest and pick it up off the ground.

•In between innings, he would brush his teeth in the dugout.

•Whenever he began a new inning, he would wave to the center fielder and not start the inning until the center fielder waved back.

•Whenever the catcher stood up, he would squat down.

•He always jumped over the foul lines.

•In between outs, Wendell would slam the rosin bag down on to the mound.

•In honor of Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn, he wore No. 99 and signed a contract for $9,999,999.99.

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Published: July 29, 2010 - Volume 9 - Issue 15