Reading her wiki page is pretty interesting. It wasn't all fun and games for her doing that, at least according to her she was beaten several times by local cops and she now is retired and lives in Ohio and will not grant interviews.
More baseball.... Josh Hamilton was injured diving into first base....so where do you guys stand on that play, it looks like an injury waiting to happen. Didn't some player do in the 1st game of an early 90's WS and was lost for the rest of the series. Besides do you really get there faster and since they don't have to tag you out you aren't avoiding anything. Seems like a really dumb play. JO'Co, Corey, Coach Krebs?
I don't think there is an advantage to diving in to first base but I do think it is instinctual for some players.
The only advantage to sliding into first base comes when the throw is going to draw the 1st baseman off the bag, but to the inside of the field. The common play when this happens is that the 1st baseman steps off the bag to field the ball, and then after making the catch, attempts a sweep tag to the inside. A slide beats that almost every time. It also requires an alert base coach, an installed code or sign system, and a runner with fast reflexes. It sounds complex, but it's rather easy to do. All other cases, I have no idea why they do it. They think they are going faster.
I once heard someone with credibility (can't recall who) say that it does not get the runner to the base faster than if he stayed upright. Corey's explanation makes perfect sense with the caveat that the decision has to be made in an instant, thus requiring, as Corey says, an alert base coach and a runner with good instincts.
:idea: The idea of diving to first base is to avoid a tag. It has nothing to do with speed or getting there faster. If a throw takes the first baseman off his base into the runner then tagging the runner going by is his only option. A sliding runner eliminates this option. If the throw is accurate, there is no point to sliding into first. Hamilton is not the sharpest tool in the shed and I'm sure he doesn't know any of that...
:idea: :idea: On a home-to-first throw, the runner should never slide. On that play, the runner's job is to stay in the baseline and make himself as big as possible by running with his elbows extended and running "high" without crouching. The idea is to force the catcher to take an angle before he throws. If he throws it right down the baseline, the ball will hit the runner and everyone will be safe. I actually won the final high school game that I ever played in using that tactic. I bunted with a runner on third with two outs in the last inning of a tie game. The catcher hit me with the throw; everybody was safe; and the run scored. I had learned that play from my JV coach three years before and I remembered it...
I believe that a throw from the catcher that hit JC Martin (who was not in the lines) helped the Mets win the WS in 1969. There is an additional line outside the baseline that the runner is supposed to be in the last 30 ft. or so.
In MLB, the position players should know how to take the throw to avoid the base runner. At the HS level, that's not always the case, hence a sly and alert base runner (like JO'Co) can make it work.
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/gXjHSbyJuPY?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0"></iframe>