Tony Thomas first to 'steal' first base in Atlantic League game, doesn't get credit for it

Tom Gatto

Tony Thomas first to 'steal' first base in Atlantic League game, doesn't get credit for it image
A guy makes history by "stealing" first base, and he isn't even awarded a stolen base.

Such was the fate of Tony Thomas, who plays for the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs of the independent Atlantic League. His heads-up baserunning Saturday night vs. the Lancaster Barnstormers gave him about four seconds of fame; he made it to first without a throw after an 0-1 pitch sailed to the backstop.

Thomas could run because the Atlantic League added "stealing first" to its list of experimental rules last week. A batter can attempt to advance on any pitch that hits the ground. Thomas became the first player to pull off the feat.

After Thomas made his dash, the question "How do you score that?" arose. The play is most similar to a Strike 3 that gets away from the catcher, so should it just be a batter-runner advancing on a wild pitch/passed ball?

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The Atlantic League's official play-by-play listed it as a fielder's choice, with no wild pitch charged to the pitcher. When you think about it, though, the only choice was Thomas deciding to run, unless you also count the catcher holding onto the ball and not risking a throwing error.

Anyway, that's now a thing in the Atlantic League, which is also experimenting with strike zone technology (aka "robot umps"), new rules for pickoff attempts, a free foul ball on a bunt attempt with two strikes and a few other tweaks in its role as a laboratory for MLB. It put off moving the pitcher's mound back two feet until next year.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.