Juan Uribe fell for the hidden ball trick Saturday, so his teammates got him a present
If you aren't familiar with the hidden-ball trick, the idea is that a fielder can conceal his possession of the ball in order to catch a baserunner off-guard between batters -- ultimately tagging him and recording an out.
There are a lot of complicated rules about when it is and isn't legal (the pitcher must not be on the rubber, for example), but the Rays were able to pull it off on Saturday, when Evan Longoria sneakily tagged Dodgers third baseman Juan Uribe following an A.J. Ellis sacrifice fly.
The Dodgers, affable gents that they are, decided to give Uribe a scultpure inspired by the play -- a shoe taped to a base.
Repercussions of the hidden ball trick! Haha Uribe is the best pic.twitter.com/k6k2tofcgW
- Kenley Jansen (@kenleyjansen74) August 10, 2013
Hanley Ramirez gave Uribe a bit of helpful advice:
#iloveyoubro!!!!!Lol pic.twitter.com/uW6vHEiiJp
- Hanley Ramirez (@HanleyRamirez) August 10, 2013
And took some arty shots of the gift and its recipient:
- Hanley Ramirez (@HanleyRamirez) August 10, 2013
The Dodgers won the game, and moreover, Uribe was part of a historic moment -- prior to this, there hadn't been a hidden ball trick successfully done in six years.
Weirdly enough, exactly eight years ago to the day, Marlins third baseman Mike Lowell used it against Luis Terrero of the D-backs.
You know who else was on that Marlins team? Current Dodgers pitcher Josh Beckett.
Baseball, man.