Holliday Never Touched the Plate

Here is conclusive video proof that Matt Holliday never touched the plate. Using a reverse angle still frame that surfaced on MLB.com it is now possible to show what was happening from the viewpoint of Tim McClelland. Unfortunately the video that the still frame came from has yet to appear, so until it does, this is clip is 97% the best analysis that can be done. (note: The sound is a bit out of sync at times but I think you’ll be able to follow along.)

If you can watch this video and still think that Holliday touched the plate then you probably think O.J. Simpson is innocent also. Well maybe that’s a little harsh but you get the idea. Holliday’s hand clearly comes out from underneath Michael Barrett’s foot before he could have touched the plate. Barrett’s heel remains flatly on the ground while his foot blocks Holliday’s hand all the way beyond the plate as Holliday continued his slide.If and when the reverse angle video ever does surface (and just where the heck is it right now?) it could potentially be the only “single shot” proof that Holliday missed the plate. Until then, the best that can be done is this multiple angle, cross referenced, replay that clearly shows, Matt Holliday never touched the plate.

Tags: HNTTP's Videos, McClelland, Video posts by admin
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ESPN’s Sportscenter used at least two different sets of highlights when replaying Colorado’s Matt Holliday’s slide into home vs. the Padres. On the Sportscenter show that aired following the game the footage used was from the TBS feed. They showed replays from four cameras, one down each foul line, and three different views from behind home plate. The views of the slide were good, one shot even shows home plate umpire Tim McClelland still moving into position as Holliday attempts to touch the plate.

The next day another Sportscenter show aired that again used the TBS footage, but with only two angles shown, and more importantly with the framing altered so that less of the slide could be seen. Compare the shots contained in the image below.

What makes the change in framing of the replay shots curious is that they were used in a segment where the three ESPN analysts were specifically addressing the question of whether or not Matt Holliday touched the plate. You can’t see Tim McClelland still moving as the play was happening. You can’t see see the on deck hitter Brad Hawpe’s lack of celebration as he watches the play. You can’t see how far Holliday’s body moves away from the third base line as he tries do dive around the tag. After the abbreviated and altered shots were shown, Tim Kurkjian dismissed the issue by saying, “I don’t think he touched the plate either, but its inconclusive.” Really? Well it seems to me that if you are going to address the question of if Matt Holliday touched the plate, that it might be a good idea to use the best replays possible. If you’re ESPN and you’re going to tell your viewers that the replays are “inconclusive” it just doesn’t make sense to use fewer replay angles and then alter the framing of the replays you do show so much that you actually cut out the plate during the tag. In fact, I would argue that that you should make an extra effort to find the best replays and perform your best analysis possible, not to just throw some inferior clips out there and then label them “inconclusive.”

It is an indisputable fact ESPN altered the replay clips of Holliday’s slide so that they showed less detail the day after the game than they did post game. The real question is why did they do it? Here are the best possible answers that I can come up with,

1. They felt the new shots were actually better than the first set and showed the play more clearly.
2. They wanted to get rid of the MLB/TBS logo.
3. They were trying to purposely shape the story so that the replays would be considered inconclusive.
4. ?

If it was choice #1, ESPN was sadly mistaken and did not exercise due journalistic diligence. If it was choice #2, ESPN is guilty of making a choice that resulted in the footage not being attributed to MLB/TBS. If it was choice #3, however, well that’s just plain bad and opens up a whole host of shady issues. Issues like, Why are they changing the clips? Who told them to change the clips? etc. I threw in #4 because there could be other reasons so you can lump them all in here.

Just so you can see the original ESPN clips, I’ve placed links to them below as well as an embedded YouTube link to where I have extracted just the replays from both Sportscenters and compare them directly.

Post game ESPN Sportscenter clip

Next day ESPN Sportscenter clip

Tags: Conspiracy?, ESPN, HNTTP's Videos, MLB, TBS, Video posts by admin
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ESPN has the best clip of Holliday’s slide that I’ve been able to find on the web. It’s has good resolution, it is broadcast in slow motion, but more importantly it shows the whole slide. The best clip is shot down the left field line which lets you really see just how much Holliday shifted his direction of travel when he dove to the right to avoid the tag. While you do not get a clear view of the plate from above, you do see the whole slide from one vantage point which establishes a “master shot“. This allows you to select key reference points from the master shot that appear in other camera angles, such as the frame when the dropped baseball hits the ground by Barrett’s knee, so that you can match the clips from other cameras with the master shot footage to show what was happening at the same instant in time from a different angle. These clips were the two main source clips for the first two frame by frame breakdowns that I posted on my the video proof page. Without this view, I don’t think the case could be made that Holliday missed the plate. But with its clear view of the distance between Holliday’s body and the plate, its clear depiction of Barrett’s heel on the ground sweeping around the plate, and its showing of the path that Holliday’s left hand took after the slide, this clip makes the foundation of the case that Holliday missed the plate.

Something I found particularly puzzling was ESPN analyst Tim Kurkjian saying after the slide clips play,

I don’t think he (Holliday) got to the plate either but its inconclusive.

I guess ESPN with all its cameras, and all its producers, and all its underpaid interns, wasn’t able to cobble enough footage from different angles to make a conclusive replay. Or is that what they would like us to believe?

Tags: Video posts by admin
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Matt Holliday never touched the plate. Period. The 2007 National League Wildcard one game playoff between the Padres and the Rockies was decided on a play that will live forever in the minds of baseball fans everywhere. With the score tied at 8, and with no outs in the bottom of the 13th inning, Colorado’s Matt Holliday stood on third while Jamey Carroll stepped to the plate to face the all time saves leader Trevor Hoffman. Carroll hit a short fly to shallow right that the Padres’ Brian Giles fielded on the run before throwing home as Matt Holliday tagged up and lumbered towards the plate. What transpired next was perhaps the most influential blown call in any major sport in recent history. Watch below and judge for yourself.

As the Padres’s catcher Michael Barrett sets up for the throw, he lets Holliday have a clear shot at the plate. But at the last second, while fielding the ball, Barrett swings his foot over to block the plate from Holliday’s outstretched hand. You can clearly see Barrett’s foot go down in advance of the slide and watch as Holliday’s hand is completely blocked from the plate. Holliday slides well past home, deflected away from the baseline by Barrett’s block at an angle that makes it impossible for him to touch home plate.

But, as Barrett tries to field the short hop, the ball pops loose. Barrett scrambles after the ball and begins to crawl/lunge towards Holliday to apply the tag as Holliday just lays on the ground dazed after taking a blow to the chin during his headfirst slide. Meanwhile the Rockies’ on deck batter isn’t jumping up and down in celebration. Why? Because he had a better view of the play than the umpire and knows that Holliday missed the plate.

Then comes the blown call that decided the game. The home plate umpire, Tim McClelland, meekly signals Holliday safe and the game is over. There is no demonstrative pointing at the plate that would signal that McClelland saw Holliday touch the dish. In fact there’s not much of anything in McClelland’s call, no conviction, no emotion, and certainly no accuracy. Its as if he just sort of said “close enough, let’s all go home.” and with that the game was over. Rockies win, Padres lose, thanks for playing. If this situation had played out in the 50’s or 60’s this would have been a different story. With no clear pictures to illustrate the play, the arguments would never be settled, the protagonists would never agree, and if we were lucky we’d get some confession that the runner missed the plate 30 years after the fact. But in 2007, with TV cameras rolling, with frame by frame analysis, and with the video clip spreading across the web, there’s no avoiding the plain simple truth. Matt Holiday never touched the plate.

Tags: Video posts by admin
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