Former major leaguers' Whitey Ford and Terry Muholland reportedly had great pickoff moves to first base.
Yankee southpaw Andy Pettitte isn't too shabby going over there, either.
But Chris Dent, currently a first-year pitching coach at Bethel University in St. Paul, Mn., may be better than them all.
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Chris Dent
As a Marietta High hurler, Dent once retired the side on pickoffs in a game at Legion Field.
I know because I was there when it happened.
Two of the picks were at first and one was at second.
It was truly amazing, and not surprisingly, the opposing head coach disputed all three pickoffs, claiming that Dent had balked.
But the umpire upheld his rulings.
Dent was that good.
Being a lefty, Dent of course had a real good look at first base when he went into his stretch. If a baserunner took a short lead of two or three steps off the bag, he invariably was in big trouble, and more often than not would get caught leaning the wrong way.
If I didn't know better, Dent was walking hitters on orders from MHS co-skippers' Jim Thrash and Larry Burke just to pick them off. But of course that couldn't be. Or could it?
After Dent graduated from MHS, he played some summer legion baseball for Beverly/Lowell, and continued to pick baserunners off. He then went to Bluffton University for a short spell before transferring to Bethel, where he pitched three seasons for the Royals.
Oh, yeah, he's still pickin' 'em off.
On Tuesday, in Fort Myers, Fla., Dent toed the rubber for Bethel in an effort to give the Royals' pitchers a day off, and beat the Minnesota Twins rookie team, 2-1, in an exhibition contest. In seven innings of work, he fanned five, gave up one unearned run - and of course picked off two runners.
The victory was significant, because it was the first time the Bethel Royals had ever posted a win against the rookie Twins since playing exhibition games with them on their annual Florida spring training trip.
Backing up a little bit, Dent last summer was instrumental in helping the Stockmen's Irish win the Minnesota Class A Amateur Baseball League state title. He pitched for the Irish for three summers.
During the course of the 2011 summer campaign, the former Tiger had 16 pickoffs.
Dent is scheduled to graduate from Bethel in May with a bachelor's degree in Exercise Science.
He's planning to continue with his coaching and baseball career - and of course picking baserunners off.
Dent is the son of Claire and Tim Dent of Marietta.
Ron Johnston is the Marietta Times sports editor, and can be reached at 376-5441 or at rjohnston@mariettatimes.com
