Rob yells at me a lot. Well, we work remotely, but he types in all-caps a lot when I do something wrong. And when I first started, I discovered that one of the things that rankles him the most is when people confuse automatic doubles for ground-rule doubles.
Ground-rule doubles vs. automatic doubles
Dilip Vishwanat
See, an “automatic double” is a ball that bounces and goes over a fence. That’s not a ground rule in a select few ballparks because every ballpark has a fence.
But a “ground-rule double” is something specific to that ballpark at that moment. Say, a ball getting stuck under a bullpen bench or stuck in the ivy with Andre Dawson. Or perhaps GETTING SUCKED INTO THE MAW OF A BASEBALL-EATING FENCE:
That was off the bat of Daniel Murphy at Busch Stadium, and it was most definitely a ground-rule double. Keith Hernandez said he’s never seen that. Keith Hernandez has seen a lot of baseball. Feels like Turner should have gotten a homer for that. Or a two-foot-tall stuffed gorilla, at least.
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