December 26, 2014
Trivia: Name 20 Ways To Stop Baseball Games
One of the greatest trivia questions of all time involves Bill Berrier, former coach at Juniata College for 32 years.
He was involved in more unique baseball game cancellations or postponements than anyone in the history of the game. Incredibly, he witnessed 20 different scenarios for games being called in his career.
Most people can’t mention 10 ways a game can be stopped let alone 20.
Berrier also managed 12 seasons in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ system prior to coming to Juniata.
Without further adieu, let’s go over this impressive list:
1. Rain.
2. Snow.
3. Flood.
4. June bug problem near Mississippi River.
5. Bus breakdown 200 miles from town.
6. Smoke (fire in dump by field).
7. Toxic fumes (power plant).
8. Toxic fumes (fertilization plant).
9. Tornado.
10. Light failure.
11. Dust storm (Texas League).
12. Lightning storm.
13. Hail storm (with heavy sleet).
14. Cold weather (second game 16 degrees).
15. Hurricane (Florida State League).
16. Nuked out (Three Mile Island).
17. Sprinkler system trouble (broken sprinkler head in centerfield caused huge spray of water which nobody could shut off).
18. Rocking light towers. Umpires called game due to heavy winds which rocked light towers to edge of breaking. Also, there was concern about a possible tornado.
19. No umpires.
20. Fog.
Berrier was asked what his most memorable game stoppage was among the 20 he listed.
“Probably the most unusual cancellation took place during the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster,” said Berrier.
“You could say we were nuked out that day. I am only aware of three college programs in baseball history which have ever been nuked out, and I was the coach of one of those teams. The other two were Elizabethtown College and York College.”
The Three Mile Island Unit 2 reactor, near Middletown, Pa., partially melted down on March 28, 1979. This was the most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history, although its small radioactive releases had no detectable health effects on plant workers or the public.
To read more about the 20 unique ways that Berrier has seen baseball games stopped, purchase the 2015 College Preview edition of Collegiate Baseball (Jan. 2, 2015) by CLICKING HERE.
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