Latest / Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History / 1960 • Baseball Clip • Jackie Robinson on Stealing Home - Radio Speech

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1960 • Baseball Clip • Jackie Robinson on Stealing Home - Radio Speech · Retro Sports Radio: Classic Games from History

• 0:00
  This is Retro Sports Radio. Visit RetroSeasons.com for more sports history.
• 0:07
  Fans, today I'm going to talk about the so-called art of stealing home.
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  Actually, it's not too much we can talk about because it's a matter of split-second timing.
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  But we'll begin this little expose right after we hear this important message.
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  The art of stealing home actually isn't an art of all. It's, I think, split-second timing.
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  Everyone knows that you can't outrun the baseball.
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  And so a lot of people wonder, well, how is it possible then to get 90 feet when the pitcher has to throw the ball a lot less distance than that and still make it home safely?
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  Well, first let me point out one thing about stealing home.
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  It's practically impossible for the manager or the coach to give you a signal to steal a home on this particular pitcher on any given pitch
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  because you can't tell whether or not the pitcher is going to go into that extra wind-up.
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  And if he doesn't, you're a dead duck at home plate because, as I said earlier, you can't outrun that baseball.
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  So then how does a man get 90 feet when the pitcher throws, well, about 65, 70 feet, whatever the distance is?
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  And I say it simply this. When I'm on third base, I take a pretty big lead off of third base.
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  When the fellow goes, the pitcher goes into his wind-up. I move up as far as I possibly can.
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  And if he takes an extra wind-up, that is when and only when you can determine whether you can get home or not.
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  Now, let's take this into consideration. I'm moving up. I get about halfway.
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  And I quickly flash in my mind, the fellow is going to now throw home on this pitch.
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  I've got to stop dead and go back towards third base as fast as I possibly can or else I'm out the other way.
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  So I actually reflex this inner end of this thing as much as anything else, too.
• 1:51
  I think it's kind of silly, as I did in the World Series, to attempt to steal home when you're two runs behind
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  or if you're two or three runs out in front. Sometimes you do it for, well, tactical reasons.
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  I attempted to steal home when we were two runs behind because we had been a team that was playing strictly orthodox baseball.
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  We had been beaten day in and day out. It was my idea that perhaps if we did something unorthodox, it might spur the ball club up.
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  So with two runs behind, in the eighth inning, I stole home.
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  Many people were critical of me, but they didn't realize that there was more to it than just the attempt of stealing home.
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  Well, this is all there is, in my opinion, in the stealing of home, knowing yourself, knowing baseball, knowing the fellow that's pitching on the mound.
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  If you make it, you're lucky. I was lucky some 20 times during my baseball career.
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  And I think, very frankly, that this is one of the most thrilling plays in the game of baseball.
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  I don't know whether I helped you or not, but that's the way I did it.
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  And that just about does it for now, fans. See you soon.