Eleutero Benjamin "Angelo" Encarnación (born April 18, 1969) is a former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player who played three seasons for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

and

Anaheim Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ha ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

Career

During a game against the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

on August 12, 1995, Encarnacion made an unusual mistake that ultimately cost the Pirates the game.Mask Mishap Helps Dodgers
, The New York Times, August 14, 1995. Encarnacion entered the game in the top of the eleventh inning with the score tied at 10–10, as a

pinch runner In baseball, a pinch runner is a player substituted for the specific purpose of replacing another player on base. The pinch runner may be faster or otherwise more skilled at base-running than the player for whom the pinch runner has been sub ...

for the Pirates' starting catcher,

Mark Parent Mark Parent (born August 25, 1954) is a Canadians, Canadian clergyman, author, academic, and former politician in Nova Scotia. Parent is the son of Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches, Baptist Missionary, missionaries Hazen Coles Parent ...

. The Pirates failed to score, and Encarnacion remained in the game as the catcher. Later that inning, with one out and

Roberto Kelly Roberto Conrado "Gray" Kelly (born October 1, 1964) is a Panamanian baseball manager and former professional baseball outfielder in Major League Baseball. He was signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1982 and went on to play ...

on third base, Encarnacion casually scooped up a

bouncing ball The physics of a bouncing ball concerns the physical behaviour of bouncing balls, particularly its motion before, during, and after impact against the surface of another body. Several aspects of a bouncing ball's behaviour serve as an introd ...

with his face mask. This was a violation of MLB's rarely invoked Rule 7.05 (d), which allows runners on base to advance under that circumstance, permitting Kelly to score the game-winning run uncontested.

References

External links

1969 births Akron Aeros players Allentown Ambassadors players Anaheim Angels players Calgary Outlaws players Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in Canada Dominican Republic expatriate baseball players in the United States Living people Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic Newark Bears players Pittsburgh Pirates players Sioux Falls Canaries players Welland Pirates players Augusta Pirates players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Calgary Cannons players Carolina Mudcats players Gulf Coast Red Sox players Iowa Cubs players Las Vegas Stars (baseball) players Midland Angels players Pawtucket Red Sox players Salem Buccaneers players Vancouver Canadians players West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx players {{DominicanRepublic-baseball-catcher-stub