5 ways to reach 1st base

[Hillbilly Jim]

On the Car Talk radio show a few weeks ago, the trivia question was "What are the 5 ways a person can reach first base without hitting the ball?"

I'm not above taking ideas for blog posts from where ever I can find them. My first thought was to illustrate the 5 ways with baseball cards but after looking at over 500 cards, I couldn't a single card which illustrated any of them. So I turned to Google Image.

Base on Balls

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_apaGga1fGIQ/SayPr84AxxI/AAAAAAAAChQ/24Z2fGP9Hzk/s320/Base+on+balls.jpg (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_apaGga1fGIQ/SayPr84AxxI/AAAAAAAAChQ/24Z2fGP9Hzk/s1600-h/Base+on+balls.jpg)
Hit by Pitch
Craig Biggio setting modern record for HBP with 268 on June 29, 2005

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_apaGga1fGIQ/SayPrrN4lOI/AAAAAAAAChI/cFCZYaSIMGU/s320/HBP.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_apaGga1fGIQ/SayPrrN4lOI/AAAAAAAAChI/cFCZYaSIMGU/s1600-h/HBP.jpg)
Wild Pitch Strike Out
I had to settle for a clear wild pitch

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_apaGga1fGIQ/SayPrYN638I/AAAAAAAAChA/ZvQimIsnauw/s320/Wild+Pitch.jpg (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_apaGga1fGIQ/SayPrYN638I/AAAAAAAAChA/ZvQimIsnauw/s1600-h/Wild+Pitch.jpg)
Catcher's Interference

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_apaGga1fGIQ/SayPrAbeHMI/AAAAAAAACg4/MvvbkIHL44I/s320/Catchers+interference.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_apaGga1fGIQ/SayPrAbeHMI/AAAAAAAACg4/MvvbkIHL44I/s1600-h/Catchers+interference.jpg)
Being sent in as a pitch runner
According to the caption on this picture, Lou Gehrig made his Yankee debut as a pinch runner on June 15, 1923

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_apaGga1fGIQ/SayPrGj8EcI/AAAAAAAACgw/-Lg12ZWK-e8/s320/pinch+runner.jpg (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_apaGga1fGIQ/SayPrGj8EcI/AAAAAAAACgw/-Lg12ZWK-e8/s1600-h/pinch+runner.jpg)

[MistaCobalina]

Back in the day, ripley's believe it or not used to be in the newspapers, and my grandpappy was in one of them for striking out 5 batters in one inning, in some semi pro iowa league. 2 of them reached base on wild pitches strikeouts.

[Hillbilly Jim]

4 is the major league record
maybe he should have made it to the majors and struck out 5

[MistaCobalina]

yeah this was hella back in the day, like the teens or 20's or some shit. some barnstorming team or something.

[Hillbilly Jim]

jesus you must be old as fuck

[MistaCobalina]

im 33, but my dad was 33 when he had me, and I'm not sure how old gramps was when he had dad, but well into his 30's. That said, it was probably teh 20's or early 30's now that I think about it. I was thinking of my great uncle's age, and not my grandma's, who was a bit younger. I'm not really when my grampa was born, tbh, he died when my dad was a teen.