Dee Gordon scores from third base on an infield single    (photo by Jon SooHoo)

While listening to an Oldies station on my satellite radio a few days ago, I happened to hear Paul Simon’s classic 1975 hit song “50 Ways to Leave your Lover.” And while this tongue-in-cheek former number one song is a bit ridiculous, it got me thinking about how many ways there are to do different things. Now I’m certainly not the first person to kick this type of thing around in my head – Jon Weisman of DodgerThoughts published a book a few years back entitled “100 Things Dodgers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die,” and though I’m talking ways and Jon is talking things, you get the point.

One of these different ways things that popped into my head after hearing Paul Simon encouraging me to “…Just slip out the back, Jack; Make a new plan, Stan…” was a baseball list that my good friend and life-long Dodger fan Harold Uhlman had shared with me a few years back – 25 ways to score from third base.

Of course to score from third base, you have to get to third base, something that Matt Kemp does exceptionally well.   (photo by Jon SooHoo)

I’m sure that most baseball enthusiasts can come up with quite a few different ways to score from third base, but when I saw Harold’s list, I was quite surprised at how many I had missed. Now granted, a few on the list are a bit rare, but they are, nonetheless, legitimate ways of scoring from third base. In fact, Dodger fans actually experienced one of these somewhat rare ones that led to a walk-off victory on May 31, 2010. While on third base in the bottom of the 9th inning in a 4-4 tie, Dodger veteran Casey Blake feigned running towards home which induced Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Esmerling Vasquez to balk, allowing Blake to score the winning run. It was the Dodgers first ‘balk-off’ win since 1989. “I just took a couple of steps to see if I could startle him a little bit,” said Blake after the victory. “Most of the time, it doesn’t work. But sometimes, it does.” Asked when the last time this had worked for Casey, he answered “Never.”

Casey Blake scores the winning run on a balk by D-Backs reliever Esmerling Vasquez. It was the Dodgers first “balk-off” win since 1989   (photo by Jon SooHoo)

Although my friend Harold provided me with the list of 25 ways to score from third base, he was quick to point out that it wasn’t he who came up with them; that honor belongs to the legendary Gordie Gillespie, the winningest coach in college baseball history. Interestingly enough, as a life-long fan of the game, I have actually seen every one of the 25 on Gillespie’s list.

Here is Coach Gillespie’s list of the 25 ways to score from third base:

1. A balk.

2. Catchers’ interference.

3. Wild Pitch.

4. Passed ball.

5. Hard hit ground ball through the infield and directly in front of an outfielder.

6. An error by an infielder which eludes him by more than 10 feet.

7. Short pop up just beyond the infield that is dropped by a fielder.

8. Short line drive or a bloop single just over the infield.

9. Sacrifice fly.

10. Fair pop up dropped by an infielder with 2 outs.

11. Fly ball dropped by an outfielder.

12. Bases loaded walk.

13. Bases loaded hit batter.

14. Wild throw by the catcher back to the pitcher.

15. Ground ball, early in the game, runners on 1B and 3B, no outs and the defense decides to go for the double play.

16. Wild throw by the pitcher attempting to pick runner off 3B.

17. Wild throw by pitcher attempting to pick runner off 1B.

18. Wild throw by catcher in attempting to pick the runner off third base.

19. Wild throw by catcher attempting to throw out runner trying to steal 2B.

20. Dropped throw from catcher on an attempted steal of 2B.

21. Runners on 1B and 3B, less than two outs, the runner on 1B heads for 2B, the catcher throws to the cutoff man, who makes a wild throw back to the catcher.

22. Suicide squeeze bunt.

23. Steal of home.

24. Wild throw by an infielder attempting to throw out the batter at 1B.

25. Interference by an infielder during a rundown play at third base (note: Although the base runner may even be heading back toward third base when he is interfered with, he is nevertheless permitted to score because an obstructed runner is awarded at least one base beyond the base he last legally touched).