THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: There are steals of home. Then there's what Amos Otis did

Stealing home is the most thrilling play in baseball.

Levi Weaver, who covers MLB for The Athletic, made that case this week after watching Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich dash to the plate against the Marlins.

OK, stick with me now.

I’m going to let Weaver make his case on why, say, an inside-the-park homer is exciting, but not like a theft of home.

Then, I’m going to tell you the story of the most incredible, spectacular, impossible — and even really dangerous — steal of home that I’ve ever seen.

Bear in mind that I’ve covered more than two thousand major league games in person, and another trillion on TV.

The steal I watched was astonishing.

I’ve talked to other reporters about it — local, regional, national — and no one has seen anything remotely like it.

Players who were there insisted they couldn’t believe their eyes, that perhaps time out had been called and they simply hadn’t heard it.

But first of all, let’s allow Levi to make his case for the steal of home in general.

His main argument is that stealing home — unlike a crazy bounce in the outfield that allows a batter to keep running — is NOT a spontaneous play.

The player thinks it through.

Brilliantly.

HERE’S THE description Weaver offered in The Athletic:

“See, the inside-the-park homer can’t really be planned. A ball bounces weirdly off a wall, an outfielder dives for a ball and whiffs, some other bizarre thing happens and everyone thinks: Could this be an inside-the-parker?

“It’s exciting, but when a player steals home, you’re seeing the result of some devious machinations that happened long before we — or the other team — realized what was happening.”

That was certainly true of the Marlins, who helped bring the mistake on themselves.

First of all, Yelich stole second against lefty Ryan Weather and catcher Nick Fortes, then advanced to third when Fortes’  throw was wild.

All the while, Yelich was noticing that Fortes’ throws back to the mound — all of them — were soft tosses, like a dad looping an easy throw back to his young son.

Given that knowledge, Yelich took off from third just as Fortes was in the act of throwing a looper to Weathers.

The play at home wasn’t really close, although there was a collision, and as Weaver pointed out in his story, if you’re planning to steal home there surely will be some pain involved.

So, great job by Yelich (although the Brewers lost the game) and a real jolt of excitement with no warning for the crowd.

Now, to the one-in-a-million steal of home that I saw in person and which, just to add drama, involved Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan on the mound.

This incredible play occurred because a few pitchers (Ryan included, obviously) still used a windup with a runner on third.

That habit disappeared from the game almost entirely because of Rod Carew, who made stealing home an art form.

Ultimately, pitchers all began throwing from a stretch with a runner at third.

Anyhow, Ryan was pitching in a scoreless duel (surprise) against Kansas City.

The runner on third was Amos Otis, a truly underappreciated player who, I believe, was eclipsed only by George Brett in Royals history.

Otis’  career WAR was 42.8, and as testament to his speed and in center field, he won three Gold Gloves — and critical to this story, he stole 341 bases.

IN 1971, Otis reeled off a 52-steal season that led the American League.

On June 4 the following year, the Royals were in Anaheim and Ryan was going head-to-head with KC ace Roger Nelson.

In the fourth inning, Otis walked with nobody out, and hustled all the way to third when Ryan made a wild pickoff throw.

The Royals couldn’t get the run home, though, and eventually it came down to Ryan against power-hitting John Mayberry with two outs.

Otis kept getting absurdly huge leads from third, with Ryan paying no attention.

Finally, with the count 3-and-2 on Mayberry, Amos just kept running.

Ryan was totally shocked by was happening, since he was concentrating on Mayberry — who, likewise, was giving all his attention to what was like to be Nolan’s 102 mph fastball.

“Suddenly, I look up and here comes Famous Amos,” said Mayberry. “He’s hollering, ‘Don’t swing, John!’

“I could have lined him into right-center field.”

Ryan ultimately tossed a “pitch” weakly into the dirt.

“I was safe easily,” Otis said. “Except for the fact I could have gotten killed, it was an easy bag.”

And Ryan?

“It was totally humiliating,” he said. “You’re just standing there feeling stupid.”

“I’ve been in the game a long time,” said Royals manager (and Hall of Famer) Bob Lemon after the game. “I’ve never seen anyone steal home with two strikes on the hitter — let alone at 3-and-2 with two out.

“If Ryan had just thrown a strike, the inning would be over. Or Amos would be in pieces.”

A bit of history: Otis’ steal deserved a footnote, because only twice since World War II has a steal of home been the difference in a 1-0 victory.

“Stealing home against Ryan was more important because it was Nolan,” he said. “After that, he threw even harder against me.”

Yikes!

“So, would I try that steal again?” Otis said.

“Not in a million years.”

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”