Why is a rundown in baseball (when a runner gets trapped between two fielders, while running the bases) called a “pickle?”

This was the question we were pondering in the car, while our 11-year-old son Jacob wrapped up baseball practice. Never one to let a question go unanswered and always answering with a certain sense of authority and confidence, which makes you believe that the answer could be true, our 8-year-old son Sam volunteered an answer.

“It is called a pickle, because it is hard to tell which end you should start eating a pickle. You could end up switching from one end to the other, just like how they throw the ball back and forth.”

Suddenly, I no longer became concerned about Sam’s future. It all became clear. Wikipedia author. Career path, done. Congrats, my son. Now, off to college with you.

(By the way, being in a baseball “pickle” comes from the phrase “in a pickle,” based on “pickling” defined as being in a difficult or troubling situation. My source? Wikipedia, of course. #BelieveItOrNot)