1: Horrendous Homers: There have been tons of major leagues hit in the head with balls and thousands in the foot. But only two men have transformed those errors into homeruns. In 1960, Red Sox rookie Lu Clinton was patrolling right field at Memorial Stadium, when slugger Vic Power lined a pitch over his head. The ball ricocheted off the top of the fence and then straight back to Clinton, who was still running to catch up with it. The ball hit his foot before it touched the ground and then popped over the fence for a homerun. Jose Canseco of the Texas Rangers did him one better in 1993. While drifting back to the fence to pull in a long fly by Cleveland's Carlos Martinez, Jose lost sight of the ball just long enough for it to miss his glove, hit him on top of the head and bounced over the fence for a home run.
2: Crash Course: The primo fielding miscue of all time occured in the error-prone outfield of the 1962 New York Mets. Center fielder Richie Ahburn was having trouble with young Venezuelan shortstop, Elio Chacon. Every time a ball was hit to short left-center, Ashburn would yell, "I got it! I got it!" only to collide with the 160-pound Chacon. Finally, they figured out the problem. Chacon didn't speak any English and, therefore, didn't realize Ashburn was calling him off the ball. The next time a ball was hit between them, Ashburn yelled, "Yo la tengo! Yo la tengo!" which is "I've got it" in Spanish. Ashburn was delighted to see Chacon back off. He relaxed, settled under the ball--and was run over by 200-pound left fielder Frank Thomas Sr. who spoke no Spanish.
3: Rocket In My Pocket: In 1892, each uniform jersey had a breast pocket--the look was good, but the results weren't. During a game in St. Louis, Chicago batter Bill Dahlen lined a hit toward the left-field corner, and outfielder Cliff Carroll sprinted over to hold him to a single. A Carroll started to throw, he juggled the ball and it got caught in his pocket. The harder he tried to pull it out, the deeper it went in. Carroll finally tore the ball free and fired it home, but it was too late. Dahln had scored.
