Throwback: That Time I Learned Who The Best Defensive Infielder Is

In honor of the upcoming series against the Reds, let's throwback to one of my most favorite idiot fan moments.

The gay boyfriend and I were at a game vs the Reds last year.  Sitting behind us was a self-proclaimed diehard Reds fan, rocking his jersey at the game.  He was with two friends who were fans of neither team on the field, and only appeared to be casual fans of baseball in general.

Early in the game, after Mr. Reds had been going on and on about Votto, one of his friends pointed out that he didn't think Votto was playing, as his name wasn't listed on the scoreboard (where the lineups of both teams are listed throughout the entire game).  After a brief pause, Mr. Reds said "oh, he's just not one of the first 8 players."  Um.  You get 8 players, plus a pitcher (odd to divide them up that way here in the NL, but ooook).  After that, you're out of players.  I couldn't take it, and turned around to share that Votto was hurt and, while I wasn't sure if he was on the DL, he hadn't played in several games.  Mr. Reds didn't believe me (again, despite the fact that Votto wasn't listed on the scoreboard as someone in the lineup), and looked it up on his phone.  Several minutes later, he was very disappointed to learn that Votto had indeed been out for several games.

Later in the game, as Mr. Reds continued to babble on and on about Votto to his friends, he said one of the greatest things I think I've ever heard.  "Your best defensive infielder is at 1st."  Both the gay bf and I turned around (we just couldn't help ourselves) and questioned this statement.  To give Mr. Reds credit, he did passionately defend his position, albeit with zero facts.  We both tried to explain that all your 1st baseman does is catch, and they give him a really big glove to do it, and generally that's where your power hitters are because they're on the team for their offense, not defense, and that your short stop is generally your best defensive infielder, etc., but Mr. Reds could not be swayed.  We eventually gave up and let him continue living his his Votto dream house, but definitely still laugh about this today.

We're both pretty sure he also thinks the catcher is the fastest guy on the team.