Slide

Cidu Bill on Sep 2nd 2009

slide.gif
Okay, it looks to me as if he’s going in face first (though I think ballplayers generally refer to it as going in “headfirst,” for fairly obvious reasons) — so where’s the joke?

Filed in Bill Bickel, CIDU, In the Bleachers, Steve Moore, baseball, comic strips, comics, humor | 20 responses so far

20 Responses to “Slide”

  1. RyanE Sep 2nd 2009 at 12:12 am 1

    I think maybe he was deliberating on what to do, instead of watching where he’s going, thus tripping on his way to the base.

  2. Arthur Sep 2nd 2009 at 12:12 am 2

    He’s spending all that mental energy trying to figure out how to slide.
    Then, he either trips or slides WAY too early, obviating all that thought.

  3. Marshal Sep 2nd 2009 at 12:15 am 3

    Looks like he ended up doing a cartwheel. Going in head over heels.

  4. James Sep 2nd 2009 at 12:25 am 4

    What Marshal said. That’s what it looks like to me too.

  5. Dr. Shrinker Sep 2nd 2009 at 01:15 am 5

    Looks like a (fairly) decent idea undone by some truly dreadful artwork.

  6. friedrich Sep 2nd 2009 at 01:53 am 6

    He’s playing “Head or Tails” with himself.

  7. yellojkt Sep 2nd 2009 at 05:55 am 7

    I’m with Arthur. His dilemma is boot because he got thrown out while dickering. He’s the Hamlet of base running.

  8. iz Sep 2nd 2009 at 07:39 am 8

    You’re supposed to slide feet first. Head first is only if you’re making a heroic effort to get there so it shouldn’t be a matter of debate. Plus he appears to be running from second to home and the catcher doesn’t seem to be wearing any catching gear. Or he’s running the bases backwards.

  9. Rasheed Sep 2nd 2009 at 07:51 am 9

    I’m with Marshal, but I also think it’s first base he’s running to. No point sliding if you can’t beat the tag. If it IS home plate, that’s probably the pitcher covering it.

  10. Mister Obvious Sep 2nd 2009 at 08:53 am 10

    It’s not home plate; the baseline doesn’t extend to home plate because of the batters’ boxes and it looks like the baseline goes through the base in the comic. It’s either first or third. However, the runner’s not in the baseline, suggesting that he’s either running from second to third (and we’re looking from the outfield) or he’s running back to first (and we’re looking from the infield).

    If he’s returning to first, then it’s quite possible he was picked off by the pitcher, in which case I’d say he tripped and will fall flat before reaching base.

    In any case, the fielder is positioned badly - you want to be near the runner, not on the opposite side of the base.

  11. Markus Sep 2nd 2009 at 11:05 am 11

    Note also, that he lost his helmet in the final frame. The artwork really is to bad to be sure, but that might be the intended joke: After finally deciding for “face first” he looses his helmet, making the heroic leap rather painful. But he is also crealy to far away, so I vote for “Joke lost through art failure”.

  12. iz Sep 2nd 2009 at 12:06 pm 12

    This still makes very little sense to me. I’m a sports photographer and have taken tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of baseball photos and have never taken a photo that looks like this. Now that I have spent way too much time thinking about it, it must be that the batter is out from an outfielder catching his ball and the runner who already left for second is trying to hustle back to first base so I guess he wouldn’t need to be tagged in that situation. In that case, he probably would want to dive head first. If he was being picked off by the pitcher, he shouldn’t be that far away from the base as shown in the first panel where he is running.

  13. Daniel Sep 2nd 2009 at 12:16 pm 13

    Looks to me like he’s giving so much thought to the how-to-slide question that he’s neglected to notice that he isn’t even close to getting there before the ball does.

  14. Lihtox Sep 2nd 2009 at 05:35 pm 14

    It IS clear from the artwork that whatever he’s doing in that last frame, he’s certainly not SLIDING; so in that respect, the artwork succeeds. I think it could have been funnier if he were shown in the middle of an actual cartwheel (i.e. both hands on the ground, feet in the air), but oh well. As for the positioning of the fielder and the baseline and whatnot– artistic license?

  15. Lord Jubjub Sep 2nd 2009 at 07:26 pm 15

    Definitely going from second to third. The slide dilemma and the foul line makes no sense, otherwise. It reminds me of my early attempts to dive from a diving board into a swimming pool. I want to go headfirst, but some instinct tries to put the feet forward and you end up doing a bellyflop. In this case, a half-cartwheel into the third basemen’s glove.

  16. Rachael Sep 3rd 2009 at 05:55 pm 16

    I agree with Marshal. Did anyone else notice that he seems to get fatter, get his hair cut and lose his helmet from frame 2 to frame 3?

  17. David N Sep 3rd 2009 at 06:31 pm 17

    Just to add to the confusion, and more likely the baseball trivia, here’s something else: that’s not a 3rd baseman. Lefthanders play 1st base, not 3rd.

  18. CIDU Bill Sep 3rd 2009 at 06:56 pm 18

    David N, there are exceptions: I’ve seen left-handed thirdbasemen. Not many, granted, but it’s not inherently impossible.

  19. carleton kent Sep 7th 2009 at 05:40 pm 19

    Yellowjkt–His dilemma is moot (not boot) because he got thrown out while dithering (not dickering). I still don’t get the strip. Cartwheel? Probably, but it looks like a stumble. More and more cartoonists can’t draw for @#$%.

  20. aoeu Sep 15th 2009 at 09:17 am 20

    Simple.

    It IS the choice between feet first and head first usually. “Face first” is the main set up for the joke - he chose face first. After pitching himself forward to slide on the shale with his face, he sees the ball arrive at the base before him.

    So now he’s doing a face slide on the shale and is still going to be out. Ouch.

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