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Atlantic League making history with tweaks to rules

WALDORF, Md. — The independent Atlantic League did not set out to make the Baseball Hall of Fame.

But that is what happened for an outfielder in Waldorf with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs after he became the first player to steal first base in a pro baseball game in the United States last month.

“I just took off,” Blue Crabs outfielder Tony Thomas said. “I tried to take advantage of the situation.

Thomas, who once made it to Triple-A in the Red Sox system, ran to first base on an 0-1 pitch on July 13 after the Atlantic League implemented some new rules a few days earlier in the conjunction with Major League Baseball.