Pivot Physics

Alomar is more typical of today's breed. Reese, in fact, says he learned how to turn two by watching Alomar, who is uncanny at avoiding contact. Alomar, though, asserts that his tricks of turning two are so highly evolved that he doesn't try to teach them to younger players.

For instance, Alomar rarely feeds the ball to the shortstop with the typical overhand throw. Instead, he has developed supreme confidence in the sideways push throw, similar to a shovel pass in football. (Alomar says he practices by flipping balls against a wall at home in that manner.) "In the last couple of years I've started doing it even if the ball gets to me a couple of steps to my left," he says.

When Alomar is on the receiving end of the shortstop's throw, his arm strength helps him avoid contact. He can fall away from the back side of the base—and the runner—and still get enough zip on the ball. "The first thing you need to do is get to the base as quickly as you can," Alomar says. His next step is to place his right foot behind the bag and his left foot on the rightfield side of the bag. "I put it on the edge so I have something I can push off," Alomar says. As the shortstop throws him the ball, Alomar moves his right foot farther behind the bag and pushes off with his left. Then, as he catches the ball, he strides toward the bag with his left foot, which strikes the back of the bag as he throws to first. Then he recoils toward the outfield, always keeping the bag between himself and the runner for protection.

Alomar has other options. He can, for one, push off the bag and continue across it, making his pivot on the infield side of the base. "The key is, don't get your body in a bad position," Alomar says. "As you come across the bag, you may have the tendency to step toward somewhere between first and home with your left foot. You have to make sure you step toward first. Never throw across your body. That's when you see wild throws."

Alomar has another alternative: While taking a feed, he'll lean slightly toward the infield side of the base with his chest and shoulders, making the runner believe he'll come across the bag. It's a ruse. As he catches the ball, Alomar will push back off the bag with his left foot and make his pivot on the outfield side of the base.

"You can't see the runner, but you have to feel him," Alomar says. "You have to feel where he is, how fast he is and how hard he's coming in. I'm looking for the baseball from the shortstop, but I'm calculating all those other things I can't see. A lot of it is feel."

Alomar says he has been blessed to have turned two with Garry Templeton as a San Diego Padre, with Tony Fernandez as a Toronto Blue Jay, with Ripken in Baltimore and with Vizquel in Cleveland, all of whom save Templeton have won Gold Gloves. The best double play combinations may appear to have the impeccable timing of Astaire and Rogers, Montana and Rice, or Stockton and Malone, but the truth is closer to the interplay between you and your UPS man. Just let him know where you'd like it delivered, and you have the basis for a beautiful relationship.

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