Baseball terminology – If you’re getting paid, please get it right!

As Opening Day nears, here’s a quick baseball primer:

Hey baseball fans! What do you call it when Dustin Pedroia hits a ball into right field that bounces over the wall into the bullpen, resulting in him being awarded second base? A ground-rule double? What ground rule covers that situation? Right, there isn’t one. This is part of the regular old baseball rules. Ground rules are special park specific rules that cover odd situations – e.g., if a ball gets stuck in the Ivy at Wrigley Field – THAT requires a ground rule, since the rulebook doesn’t cover it. Pedroia’s hit is simply called a double. Now, it doesn’t upset me too much to hear my friends and fellow baseball fans get excited because “Pedroia hit a ground rule double to tie the game !”. But if you are a radio announcer, TV broadcaster, or newspaper writer, please get it right. You are being paid a lot to do your job, the least you can do is use the proper terminology and stop propagating misinformation. By the way, while we’re at it, every baseball game starts with the umpire yelling “Play!” Not “Play Ball”. And when Allen Craig scored the winning run in the World Series after he tripped over Will Middlebrooks, even though he was tagged out at home? He was called safe due to “obstruction” not “interference”. That’s all for today.