Video: Mike Napoli beats Justin Upton, Little Green Monster on automatic double

Mike Napoli put the Indians on the board in an unorthodox fashion on Friday night. With one out and runners on second and third, Napoli skied a Michael Fulmer heater to left field, where it ricocheted off the grass behind Justin Upton and cleared Cleveland’s 19-foot “Little Green Monster.”

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If the Tigers and Indians had played this game prior to 1930, Napoli’s double would have been credited as a home run. In 1931, a year after the American League adopted more severe restrictions on batted balls, the Chicago Tribune’s Irving Vaughan documented the rule changes that limited one-hop doubles to two bases:

Last year the American league limited to two bases any fairly batted ball which bounded over a fence or into a bleacher or grandstand. It was adopted because of the three foot concrete wall at the end of the short left field line in the Yankee stadium.

(Thanks for taking the fun out of “trick home runs,” Yankees.)

Thankfully for the Tigers, this game was played in 2016, and Justin Upton recovered quickly from the gaffe by clearing the fences himself in the second inning with a solo shot off of Corey Kluber.

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