Shane Victorino: Crazy insane or insane crazy?

Didn't they change the rule this year anyway? Don't you have to stay on the field? Or does that just apply to the dugout.

There's making an effort, and then there's being stupid.  It's the same thing as Peavy not telling people about his ribs before the playoffs.  You want a gamer, but you want them to be out there night after night, not for one spectacular play and then in the hospital.  No one expects you to get the ball by leaping into the stands.  Plus, he could have hurt a little kid in the stands, not just himself.  It's different when the ball is almost reachable - that wasn't.

No Jeter

at least they didn't let him catch the ball.  But they should have poured beer all over him and rubbed nacho cheese in his hair.

I like this guy.

look at the situation!  phillies down by 1, bases loaded, 2 outs in the 7th inning.  and living in philly myself, i can tell you that their bullpen is a freaking gascan.  i know they still lost, but he tried to give them a much, much better shot at winning with this effort.  had he made the catch, there's a good chance the phillies would've won.

PLUS, this will endear him to the philly fans to no end.  aaron rowand has a special place in all phillies fans' hearts because of his broken nose last year.  now, because of this single play, victorino will enjoy a long career in philadelphia (they're locking him up long-term) without the fans getting bored and turning on him (ala Abreu).

If you're worried about flying cat-people, foul balls, Gaslamp ballers diving onto the field, or line drives hit at your face, you should purchase your tickets accordingly.

and I think you should be able to throw the ball at a runner to get him out.  Full contact with the crowd takes it up another notch. Can fans jump out of the stands to knock the ball out of his glove as he goes for a catch?  Bring it on!

We're totally quick to RIP players who half-ass it on the field - it's the absolute worse thing a player can do.  If Victorino had just taken a step or two toward the ball, then stopped, half the people in the park would've screamed at him for being lazy.  

You can't have it both ways.  This was a legitimate effort by an all out hustle guy - Victorino plays this way all the time.  You can't ask a guy to stop in mid-sprint to consider the ramifications of what he's doing.  If he thinks he can get the ball, he should try to go get the ball, regardless of where it takes him.

More guys should play like that.

I am still not sure the catch would have even counted. I couldn't quite tell from that video if he would have been in-bounds if he had actually caught it. From the look of things, there is no way he could have legally made the catch.

I still think he was endangering too many people by doing that, including himself.

6.05
A batter is out when --
(a) His fair or foul fly ball (other than a foul tip) is legally caught by a fielder;
Rule 6.05(a) Comment: A fielder may reach into, but not step into, a dugout to make a catch, and if he holds the ball, the catch shall be allowed. A fielder, in order to make a catch on a foul ball nearing a dugout or other out-of-play area (such as the stands), must have one or both feet on or over the playing surface (including the lip of the dugout) and neither foot on the ground inside the dugout or in any other out-of-play area. Ball is in play, unless the fielder, after making a legal catch, falls into a dugout or other out-of-play area, in which case the ball is dead. Status of runners shall be as described in Rule 7.04(c) Comment.