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Pirates left fielder Mike Diaz leads off the 8th inning with a solo shot to give the Pirates a 3 – 1 lead. 3rd baseman Jim Morrison doubles to right. 1st baseman Sid Bream grounds out. Morrison to 3rd. One out.
Catcher Mike LaValliere to the plate. The Pirates have a squeeze play on, and as Cardinals pitcher Ricky Horton winds up, Morrison takes off for home.
The St Louis Post-Dispatch continues the story: “the Cardinals, guessing correctly when the Pirates wanted to squeeze, pitched out. [Tony] Pena threw to [Terry] Pendleton, but Pendleton dropped the ball as he tagged Morrison.”
Even though Morrison got back to 3rd safely, he was charged with a CSH and Pendleton got an error.
LaValliere bounced out to the pitcher (two outs) and shortstop Rafael Belliard was walked intentionally to bring Pirates starting pitcher Mike Dunne, with his .143 BA, to the plate.
Rather than take their chances with Dunne, the Pirates had 34-year-old Morrison take off for home, and he was thrown out stealing to end the inning. A true CSH for Morrison, so two CSH’s in one inning, Ricky Horton to Tony Peña in both cases.
“Never before in National League history had a player been caught stealing twice in the same inning,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
But has any player ever been caught stealing home twice in one inning? To me, that’s the more interesting question.
After the game, the embarrassed but record-setting Morrison told the Post-Gazette, "That's two records I have. With the White Sox in 1980, I had no triples in 604 plate appearances. That's the fewest triples with more than 600 plate appearances."
Morrison had 10 steals that season and 5 CS. In August, he was traded to the Tigers, and he finished his career in 1988 with Atlanta. He played 12 years in the MLB, .260/.305/.419, with 876 hits, 371 runs, 112 HRs, and 435 RBI.