There are countless ways that mistakes can happen and do during the course of a game. Some might appear small at the time while others are perceived to be more damaging. In the end they all carry the same weight and they all add up.
Most will see the more obvious physical mistakes. Things like a booted ground ball, an errant throw, missed fly ball, an infielder “double clutching” his throw allowing the base runner to be safe, not getting a bunt down or not running out a potential base hit at full speed and so on.
Then there are the mental mistakes that take their toll also. Things like a base runner missing a steal sign, an outfielder throwing to the base instead of hitting his cut-off, a base runner not conscious that there are two outs (thinking there is only one) and not running on a fly ball that drops or on a 3-1 count a batter doesn’t look for his perfect pitch, swings and misses a pitch that would have been ball four only to strike out the very next pitch.
Every team makes mistakes in every game. Some might say “Not every team makes mistakes. How about perfect games?” Well, over the 140 years of Major League Baseball history, and over 210,000 games played, there have been only 23 official perfect games by the current definition*. That calculates to only .001% have been perfect.
Statistically so insignificant you can say every team makes mistakes.
Players, coaches, fans and the media tend to have short term memory and only remember the last mistake even though there were others that occurred previously. Unfortunately in most cases, the last mistake is blamed. Especially if it allows for the loss of a lead or a game ending winning run. But ask yourself, “Why was the game so close in the first place?” One mistake isn’t the cause for a loss. It’s the compounding effect of all the mistakes – big or small.
While there are many examples, this article will use one of the more famous games where the last mistake of the game and the player who committed it,
Bill Buckner Didn’t Lose
World Series Game Six
The Baseball Observer - Aug/ Sept 2018
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by Coach Helke