Bases loaded, pop fly just foul down the first base line. Runner on first started on the hit (base coach was yelling at the batter to run, and confused the runner), and was six steps off when the ball was caught by the first baseman. The first baseman steps on the bag, and the runner returns and is not tagged. Is the runner out?
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Of course he is, by the rule cited in the title:
[Any runner is out when] failing to retouch the base after a fair of foul fly ball is legally caught before that runner or the base is tagged by a fielder. (emphasis mine; © 2004 Little League Baseball, Inc.)
The italicized portion was what one of the assistant coaches was misinformed about--for some reason he thought that on a caught foul ball the runner has to be tagged, not the base. The head coach of the batting team, who is a good guy, didn't manage to ask us before the next pitch, which meant a protest couldn't be lodged. Which was great for me because it would have been paperwork for me to fill out to prove I was right. But anyway, he, another ump who has a (I think) grandkid on the team, and this assistant were insistent that I had it wrong. I offered to get the rulebook after the game and show them for their education (I didn't know the rule number right off the top of my head, but I was certain I was right.) So there isn't an incident that I'm here bitching about--the head coach, whom I showed the rulebook afterwords, admittedly he wasn't as familiar with the rules minutiae as he thought his helper was, so he defered to him and backed his position.)
What I want to ask the Teeming Handful (that means you) is have you ever had, or heard of anyone having, this misconception? I mean, missunderstanding the infield fly rule or something fairly uncommon like obstruction or a fair ball hitting the runner doesn't surprise me. Sometimes the rules aren't perfectly intuitive but if you think about them they make some kind of sense. I just cannot come up with a way in which the wrong interpretation I was confronted with tonight makes any sense whatsoever. (I mean, if the runner runs to second without retouching first, this guy's position says you have to chase him down with the ball.) And since I've never encountered it before, I'd like to know to if I'm being snooty thinking this guy (though definitely polite about it) was completely off his rocker.
9 comments:
Ummmm... on a caught ball, the runner is effectively forced at the base he started the play on. I've never thought there was any conceptual difference between a fair and foul ball in this context. In fact, is the ball ever technically foul if it is caught?
-A
He's off his rocker. I've never heard anyone who knew anything about baseball thinking anything like that.
Larry
Just to prove that he was off his rocker, I asked Steuard what the right call was. Even he got it right. You all taught him well.
Totally off his rocker. There's no distinction between foul and fair when the ball is caught. I was so confused as to how someone would be confused about this, that I had to reread the scenario to make sure I understood it. Because it's not difficult at all. My mother would know this one.
Even your dad knew that one
Christ, even I knew that one.
Just curious, Steve: a fair ball that hits a runner is a dead ball and the runner is out, but I am not sure what happens to other runners. My gut feeling is that every other runner gets the next base. Is this right?
Nope. They return unless forced by the batter (who does get first base.) 7.08 f. And one that I would totally understand people being unsure of (I've invoked it once this year, but how often do you see it, really?)
Oh, OK, so if, with the bases loaded, a ball hits the runner at first, the runner at first is out, the batter gets first and the other runners must return to second and third? That makes more sense. I was thinking about it yesterday, and, it wouldn't make sense to have the runners advance, because it would actually benefit the offense to let the ball hit them, which this rule is clearly trying to discourage. At no point, then, can a run score when a runner is hit by a batted ball. Baseball rules are, usually, very logical, built up by over a century's worth of gamesmanship. This is no exception.
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