On June 9, 1972 — 6/9/1972 – The Braves Marty Perez made the last out of the top of the sixth, but he came up to start the seventh. Phillies catcher Tim McCarver proved to be too clever as he pointed out the incorrect batter to the home plate umpire after the first pitch, which was a ball. He did not realize that until the incorrect batter’s plate appearance is over, the team can replace that batter with the proper one or a pinch hitter. The Braves sent up Jim Breazeale in place of Perez as a pinch hitter for the pitcher, who was the correct batter. Breazeale inherited a 1-0 count, but struck out. This was not the first time a team did not understand the rules in order to take advantage of them. If Perez had finished his at bat and made an out, the Phillies could have accepted the play. Most likely Breazeale would have come up as a pinch hitter, which would have been correct since the Perez play would have reset the lineup. The effect would have been to have Perez, a “good field, no hit” shortstop bat an extra time, which would have delayed the top of the order coming up by a batter. It turned out not to matter since the Braves did not score in the last three innings and the Phillies won the game 4-3 with a run in the bottom of the eighth.
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