Video Flashback: Jack Hannahan & The Foul Ball

Days Of Future Past: Jack Hannahan

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Jack Hannahan was a third round pick by the Detroit Tigers in 2002 and made his major league debut with them on May 25, 2006 against the Kansas City Royals going hitless in six at-bats.

Prior to signing a minor league deal with the Cleveland Indians on December 10, 2010 he had appeared in major league games with the Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners.

He spent two seasons with the Indians (2011 and 2012) and posted a career best slash line of .250/.331/.388 and a 2.3 fWAR (Fangraphs) in 2011. He left the Indians after the 2012 season and signed a 2-year/$4MM contract with the Cincinnati Reds and missed most of 2014 recovering from right shoulder surgery. At the the end of the year the Reds declined to pick up the option on his contract making him a free agent and he has agreed to play with the LG Twins in Korea.

He has had quite a journey in his professional baseball career including battling an addiction to alcohol that dates back to eighth grade. He relayed the difficulties to Baseball America’s Jack Magruder back in 2002 saying, “I’d go out and I’d drink, I’d end up blacking out. Next thing I know, I’d wind up somewhere I wouldn’t want to be. I wouldn’t know how I got there, or what drugs I took while I was there. It led to many visits to jail. Many visits to detox. I’m just thankful I didn’t kill anyone or kill myself.”(Story Here).

If you were to ask me about my memories of Hannahan with the Indians I’d probably remember his impressive spring training in 2011 which led him to win the third base job but I’d probably recall the day-to-day injury report and the ridiculous foul ball call at Yankee Stadium during May and June of the 2012 season.

Usually reporting on a player injury would not be memorable but the mystery behind why the Tribe led by Manny Acta decided to play short handed for an extended period of time while Hannahan dealt with a sore back remains a mystery. It should be noted that as Acta waited for him to return to the lineup he was also playing without shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera (hamstring) and Travis Hafner (knee) in a series against the division rival White Sox while the Indians were in first place. Go figure.

Hannahan was out of the lineup for 11 games from May 14 through May 26 with lower back tightness. He returned to the Tribe’s lineup on May 26th and went 0 for 4 against the White Sox but strained his calf during the game and was immediately placed on the disabled list afterwards.

The most memorable moment came a month later when the Indians were playing the Yankees in New York. In the top of the 7th with the Tribe trailing 4-0.

Hannahan sent a foul ball down the left field line. Yankee left fielder Dewayne Wise leaped into the stands and was unable to make the grab but 3rd base umpire Mike DiMuro raced down the line and pumped his fist signalling that Wise had made the inning ending catch. Wise exited the stands and headed back to the dugout while a fan in the stands held his souvenir up proudly for all to see.

When Hannahan returned to his position in the bottom of the inning he let third base umpire DiMuro know how he felt and was ejected from the game. Rather than using words to tell the story of how it happened and the reactions let’s take a look at the videos.

The Blown Call

Indians Reactions To Blown Call

Yankee Manager

Joe Girardi

‘s Reaction To Blown Call

Fan Reaction To Blown Call

DeWayne Wise sums things up best after the game when he said, “Not my fault, the ump didn’t catch it either.”
A great article to flip back to about other similar blown calls involving the New York Yankees (HERE)

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