Stealing First and Other Random Sports Accomplishments

Joey Votto walked on three balls, in a way stealing first base. Was it a great achievement? No, but it sure was random. Here are a few other unusual sports feats, a few of which you might never see again.

Some of these weird accomplishments were helped along by poor officiating—a touchdown on fifth down, anyone? Others were just highly unusual, like accidentally stealing first base from second. Whatever the circumstances, these are just things that make you go, "Huh?"

Barry Bonds Draws Intentional Walk with Bases Loaded

BETH A. KEISER/Associated Press

This is impressive in that it could only happen to a deadly hitter. In 1998, Arizona Diamondbacks manager Buck Showalter famously made the call to intentionally walk Barry Bonds with the bases loaded. 

His team up 8-6 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Showalter decided a guaranteed run was better than a likely two, three or four runs with Bonds at the dish. He was right—Arizona beat the San Francisco Giants, 8-7.

Diego Maradona Scores World Cup Goal with His Hand

Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" goal in the 1986 World Cup has become one of soccer's most infamous, but it was also one of the weirdest.

Maradona appeared to score a goal with his hand, and it actually stood. He later scored again, and Argentina defeated England 2-1 to advance to the World Cup semifinal. According to James Barragan of the Los Angeles Times, Maradona said of his performance after the game, "a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the Hand of God."

Argentina would go on to defeat Germany in the final and win the whole thing.

Ray Wersching Makes a Fair-Catch Kick

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Many sports fans might not even know what a fair-catch kick is. Basically, after a fair catch, the receiving team can attempt a free kick/field goal, if it makes strategic sense, even if time has expired. According to the NFL rule book, section 10.2.4(a), "After a fair catch is made, or is awarded as the result of fair catch interference, the receiving team has the option of putting the ball in play by ... a fair-catch kick (drop kick or placekick without a tee) from the spot of the catch."

This is a rare thing in football. The most recent attempt came when Phil Dawson of the San Francisco 49ers missed a 71-yard try in 2013.

The last person believed to have made such a kick is Ray Wersching, according to Eric Edholm of Yahoo Sports. Wersching made a 45-yarder for the San Diego Chargers in 1976.

Giants Turn Double Play on a Walk

It's kind of hard to turn a double play on a walk, but it happened. Last July, the San Francisco Giants turned a 1-6-1-5 double play against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Leading 5-4 with one out in the sixth inning, the Pirates had runners on second and third. Chris Stewart walked, and it should have been bases loaded. Instead, the runner at second, Travis Snider, wandered off the base toward third. Since he wasn't forced to third base, Snider was tagged out. The runner on third, Gaby Sanchez, saw the commotion near second and apparently thought going for home might help. It didn't.

Jerome Bettis Wins Coin Toss, Also Loses It

In 1998, the Pittsburgh Steelers played the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day. At the end of regulation, the score was tied, and the teams headed to overtime. As captain of the Steelers, Jerome Bettis was in charge of calling the coin toss.

Bettis called "tails" as the ball was in the air, but referee Phil Luckett yelled, "Heads is the call." Of course the coin landed on tails, and confusion ensued. In the end, the Lions took possession and scored a game-winning field goal.

It was later determined that Bettis likely said a portion of the word "heads" before changing his mind and calling tails. He managed to win a coin toss and lose it, all at the same time.

Val Fonteyne Amasses 26 Penalty Minutes in 13 Years

Associated Press

Val Fonteyne played 13 seasons in the NHL from 1959-72. During that time, he amassed just 26 penalty minutes. That figure includes five whole seasons without any penalty minutes at all.

To put that minuscule figure in perspective, the NHL's career leader for penalty minutes is Tiger Williams, who racked up almost 4,000 of them. Steve Downie of the Pittsburgh Penguins sat in the box for 238 minutes in the 2014-15 regular season alone.

Is it good or bad to have so few penalty minutes in a game like hockey? It's hard to tell—the ideal figure is probably somewhere in the middle, but Fonteyne's insanely low total sure is random.

Joey Votto Steals First on Three Balls

John Minchillo/Associated Press

Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds didn't exactly steal first base in the traditional sense, but he did walk on three balls. 

During a game against the Washington Nationals, Votto took ball three on a 2-2 count and immediately began trotting down to first base. No one seemed to notice anything was wrong, and the base was his. 

Votto would later score, and the Reds won, 8-2.

Jean Segura Steals First, from Second

In the early 20th century, Germany Schaefer used to attempt to steal bases in reverse order in an effort to gain a strategic advantage, according to Baseball Reference. However, that particular intent eventually became illegal, and now, according to Adam McCalvy of MLB, the applicable rule states: 

"

Any runner is out when -- after he has acquired legal possession of a base, he runs the bases in reverse order for the purpose of confusing the defense or making a travesty of the game. The umpire shall immediately call 'Time' and declare the runner out.

"

So you can steal first from second, but only if it's by accident, pretty much. Such was the case with Jean Segura of the Milwaukee Brewers in April 2013.  

Segura stood on second base in the bottom of the eighth, and Ryan Braun stood at first. Segura took off and got caught between second and third. Braun, rightly, advanced to secure scoring position, but they both ended up at second base. Braun was out, but Segura must have thought he was out, because he started to trot toward the dugout, landing safely at first base on the way.

Brad Johnson Throws Himself a TD Pass

It's pretty hard to throw a forward pass to yourself, right? Former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brad Johnson did this very thing, albeit unintentionally, in 1997.

Tied with the Carolina Panthers in the fourth quarter, on 3rd-and-goal from the 3-yard line, Johnson's pass ran right into the hands of a defensive lineman and bounced back to him. He grabbed the ball and ran it in for a touchdown. The Vikings went on to win the game, 21-14.

John McDonald Gets Traded for Himself

DUANE BURLESON/Associated Press

John McDonald was a journeyman who played for eight different teams throughout his 16-year MLB career. Early on, something happened to him that has only happened to a handful of other players in MLB history. McDonald was essentially traded for himself.

In July 2005, Toronto traded McDonald to Detroit on a conditional deal that involved future considerations, according to Michael Clair of Cut4. In November of the same year, McDonald ended up back in Toronto—turned out he was the consideration.

Manute Bol Records More Career Blocks Than Points

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Manute Bol was 7'7" tall. That's the tallest in NBA history, along with Gheorghe Muresan. But Bol was alone as the only NBA player to record more career blocked shots than career points. 

Over his 10-year career, the Sudanese-born big man blocked 2,086 shots and scored 1,599 points. He is second only to Mark Eaton in career blocks per game, with 3.34.

Yunel Escobar Strikes out on 4-2 Pitch

Chris O'Meara/Associated Press

In April 2014, then-Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Yunel Escobar worked the opposing pitcher, Minnesota's Samuel Deduno, to a 4-2 count. That's right, he walked.

But he didn't. Everyone seemed to lose track of the pitch count, and there was actually a review during the at-bat. According to Rhett Bollinger of MLB, the problem was the fourth pitch. It was called a foul ball even though it never hit Escobar's bat.

Long story short, the umpires made a mistake, and MLB copped to as much after the game. Bollinger reported Deduno even said, "He didn't foul the ball -- I saw it. So it worked for me. I think that was ball four."

Colorado Scores on Fifth Down

This random play happened due to a major officiating gaffe in 1990. The No. 12-ranked Colorado Buffaloes trailed the Missouri Tigers, 31-27, with 31 seconds remaining in the game. Colorado had 1st-and-goal from the Missouri 3-yard line.

Somehow, the down marker was not changed appropriately to coincide with the downs, and Colorado was given five chances to score—which they did, on "fifth" down. The Big Eight conference admitted the error, apologized and suspended several officials, but the outcome of the game stood.