Hessman's "home run" ruled a triple
New York Mets' Mike Hessman follows through on a triple during the fifth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies, Friday, in New York. (August 13, 2010) Credit: AP
This could not have been the way Mike Hessman imagined his first major-league triple.
Hessman's apparent home run to left to lead off the fifth inning was changed to a triple after an umpire's review determined fan interference during the Mets' 1-0 win over the Phillies on Friday night. Hessman was later stranded at third.
In 1,643 career games in professional baseball coming into Friday, Hessman had tripled only 20 times, once every 82 games, and never in the majors.
"There was fan interference," first-base umpire Tom Hallion said when asked why Hessman was awarded a ground-rule triple. "It's our judgment of where he would have been if there was no fan interference."
Hessman hit Cole Hamels' first pitch deep to left, but as he began rounding the bases, the ball hit something in the stands and fell back to the field. As Hessman rounded second, Raul Ibañez signaled that a fan had touched the ball. "I saw the hands come over the fence and touch the ball," Ibañez said.
Hessman continued around the bases and sat in the dugout with a bemused look as Phillies manager Charlie Manuel came out to argue.
Replays showed a fan reaching over the green railing. However, it was unclear if the fan touched the ball or if it had clanged on the railing before falling onto the grass.
"The feeds that we had from the replay, the fan reaches over the fence, [the ball] hits his hand and knocks the ball down," Hallion said. "And in our judgment, [it] would not have gotten out of the ballpark."
Hallion said the camera angle made it difficult to clearly see what happened. When asked if the umpires got the call right, he said: "No comment on that. We did our best. Of course an umpire wants to get a call right. OK?"
Hessman was asked if he thought it was a homer. "I was running the bases, I had no idea," he said. "I just heard commotion and guys jumping around. I saw the ball on the ground. I was like, 'Well, I better keep going.'
"I didn't see a replay, but when I hit it, I thought I had enough to get it out. When I got into the dugout, everybody was saying, 'It's a home run, don't worry about it. [But] it took so long and I said, 'I've got a bad feeling about this one.' "
