The correct answer is "b," the batter-runner is out, removing the force against R1, who is safe. The force was removed against R1 when first base was touched because the following runner (the batter-runner) was out. Thus, R1 was not forced at the time he was tagged, and since he was touching first base, he is safe. Incidentally, had the fielder tagged R1 and then first base, he would have had a double play. Even though R1 was touching first, he was forced to advance, so he would have been out if he was tagged before the first base bag. Such a play can happen quickly, so you can see how it is important to not only know the rules, but to be able to recall them in seconds on the baseball field. You can be that type of an umpire after a thorough study of Jaksa and Roder's manual.
― Fig On A Plate Cart (Alex in SF), Friday, 18 March 2011 20:31 (thirteen years ago) link
this just happened in the sox-indians game!
bases loaded, chopper hit to youkilis at 3B, as he was throwing home to force the runner he stepped on the third base bag thus removing the force at home, the runner ran right by varitek who thought he had forced him when it was actually now a tag play, and the run counted
― ciderpress, Thursday, 7 April 2011 01:45 (thirteen years ago) link
Weird...did his momentum force him to the bag or was it an instinct/brain fart thing?
― The Louvin Spoonful (WmC), Thursday, 7 April 2011 01:47 (thirteen years ago) link
so that's not considered infield fly rule. lucky break for the sublime tirbe.
― brownie, Thursday, 7 April 2011 01:49 (thirteen years ago) link
*tribe
oh, it was a chopper and not a line drive?
― brownie, Thursday, 7 April 2011 01:54 (thirteen years ago) link
not a rules question but one regarding etiquette.
bottom of the 9th, tied 4-4, 2 outs, bases loaded, austin romine at the plate. eduardo nunez starts taking hacks in the on deck circle. yet, it will either be a walk off hit/walk or an inning ending out.
can't think of a scenario where on deck batter Nunez gets to the plate that inning, is it a matter of principle that someone is standing there?
― sanskrit, Monday, 26 September 2011 01:38 (twelve years ago) link
Rules require the next batter be in the ODC I think -- I guess he was just swinging off some nervous energy?
― Antonio Carlos Broheem (WmC), Monday, 26 September 2011 01:43 (twelve years ago) link
I'm not sure there's a rule about that. The person in the on-deck circle is also technically not "in the game" either until he is announced, for example, if the manager made a defensive replacement in the top of the inning then he can send anyone he wants to the on-deck circle when that spot is due up, and change his mind at the last minute right as that person is due to bat (or send someone to the on-deck circle to fool the other manager).
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Monday, 26 September 2011 16:21 (twelve years ago) link
good q
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Monday, 26 September 2011 16:26 (twelve years ago) link
A stretch but it's def happened before: Romine gets injured in the act of swinging and needs to be replaced.
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Monday, 26 September 2011 18:32 (twelve years ago) link
Nunez was already in the game -- he started. He would not have been able to replace someone at the plate.
― A Chuck Person's Guide to Mark Aguirre (Andy K), Monday, 26 September 2011 18:46 (twelve years ago) link
If a manager is ejected in the first half of a doubleheader, he can come back for game 2, right?
― polyphonic, Monday, 26 September 2011 23:50 (twelve years ago) link
i suspect that nunez was there out of habit because no one thought about it
― mookieproof, Monday, 26 September 2011 23:54 (twelve years ago) link
Unless Nunez isn't already in the lineup (i.e. he's pinch hitting), he can't replace Romine; the manager would have to find another guy on the bench to finish Romine's at bat.
― Leee, Lord of Wtfomgham (Leee), Tuesday, 27 September 2011 05:13 (twelve years ago) link
Can't find a baseball thread for general stupidity, so this'll have to do.
Took my middle school team to their three-pitch tournament today. First game, we go into the bottom of the final inning down 1-0. Two outs, runners on first and second, our best hitter coming up. He crushes one between the left and center fielder that rolls to the fence. Guy on second scores easily. I'm coaching third, jumping up and down and going crazy (as I tend to do in such situations), and the guy on first is coming into third. I'm waving him through, but I'm worried that he's going to forget he's not to touch the plate--there's a safety line they're supposed to cross instead, to avoid collisions at home--and I want to remind him. I get too close to the base, he runs into me, proceeds to score, but the umpire calls coach interference. Third out, tie game.
We played well the rest of the way, losing three games by a total of five runs and winning two fairly lopsidedly, and finished fifth out of eight times. I wonder how we would have done if we'd won that first game.
― clemenza, Friday, 15 June 2012 01:34 (eleven years ago) link
I read this, and I've got to say, I think the umpire messed up:
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/inside-the-rules-coachs-interference/
When I questioned him on it, I think he indicated that I had pushed our player forward. I don't think I did, the kid just ran into me, but I can't say for sure.
― clemenza, Friday, 15 June 2012 01:39 (eleven years ago) link
that is ridiculous. the kid is running; no contact from you is legitimately going to speed him up.
what is three-pitch?
― mookieproof, Friday, 15 June 2012 01:49 (eleven years ago) link
That's what I thought too--I slowed him down and he still scored.
Three-pitch (slow-pitch) is where your pitcher pitches to your own team. You get three pitches, strike or ball, to put it in play.
― clemenza, Friday, 15 June 2012 02:03 (eleven years ago) link
this is middle school? when do kids start pitching, grade 13? (sorry, couldn't resist ontario joke)
when i was a kid we were pitching to each other at age 8, with little league rules that you couldn't pitch more than six innings a week. which resulted in a fair number of walks, thus the 10-batters-per-inning rule.
― mookieproof, Friday, 15 June 2012 02:14 (eleven years ago) link
Don't forget this is softball in a school setting--safety is a huge concern. I think three-pitch/slow-pitch is pretty common for friendly adult leagues, too. There are lots of out-of-school leagues where grade-school kids play regular baseball.
Today was crazy. Each game was 25 minutes maximum, so you got through all of three innings. (In one game we got a fourth inning in.) There was a five-run mercy rule. All of this helped us--our team was only of middling strength--but it felt like an assembly line.
― clemenza, Friday, 15 June 2012 02:24 (eleven years ago) link
oic. that still sounds . . . kind of bizarre tho. vaguely reminiscent of the gym teacher i had who would have us play volleyball but one bounce was legal or have us play wiffleball but you had to run the bases third-to-second-to-first-to-home
― mookieproof, Friday, 15 June 2012 02:32 (eleven years ago) link
safety is a huge concern
are these ppl concerned about the whl?
― mookieproof, Friday, 15 June 2012 02:34 (eleven years ago) link
The WHL meaning...Bobby Hull and the Toronto Toros? You lost me!
Let me put it this way--kids have to wear goggles for badminton tournaments now. Our school board gets more and more paranoid every year about potential lawsuits.
― clemenza, Friday, 15 June 2012 02:43 (eleven years ago) link
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9390184/doug-glanville-baseball-rules-quiz-results
― polyphonic, Tuesday, 18 June 2013 18:23 (ten years ago) link
Salute to Brad Ziegler. Wow.
― Andy K, Tuesday, 18 June 2013 18:40 (ten years ago) link
Never heard of this play before. Similar situation to the one Tracer Hand posted about above where a force is no longer in place after a putout at first. Interesting that Mantle knew he could go back to first base:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/sports/baseball/01mantle.html?_r=0
― timellison, Tuesday, 2 July 2013 01:14 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, if the Yankees had won that series then it would have been one of the more talked about plays ever. Johnny Damon had that crazy baserunning play that helped them to win Game 4 in '09 and turn the Series around (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs/2009/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=4615712) , but a) it wasn't Game 7, b) Damon isn't Mickey Mantle.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Tuesday, 2 July 2013 21:41 (ten years ago) link
What is the dumbest rule?
http://www.baseballnation.com/2013/8/2/4583006/baseball-dumbest-rule-robby-thompson-mariners
― Miss Arlington twirls for the Coal Heavers (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 7 August 2013 18:57 (ten years ago) link
alter the rulebook strike zone? a bridge too far
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--mlb-could-alter-strike-zone-as-response-to-declining-offense-232940947.html
― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius), Friday, 13 February 2015 18:04 (nine years ago) link
i'm fine with changing it back to the top of the knee. the bottom of the knee standard was the result of a recent rule change too, and god knows offense has to be increased somehow. either this or aluminum bats i guess
― sae nnwurd - throw sum mo ka (k3vin k.), Friday, 13 February 2015 18:10 (nine years ago) link
Inspired by Craig Counsell looking and dressing like a thirty year old college dropout during this year's playoffs: when did this trend of managers wearing playoff-themed team sweatshirts start? I have strong memories of it in the 2015 playoffs, but I think it started a few years earlier than that?
A quick search reveals nothing in the rulebook specifically mandating that a manager must be in full uniform -- coaches, yes, because they stand on the field of play during games.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Sunday, 21 October 2018 08:01 (five years ago) link
I'm interested in who picks the dumbass two-word hoodie/sweatshirt slogans. Is there a team vote?
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 21 October 2018 14:41 (five years ago) link
last weekend manny machado made this crazy juggling catch in foul territory against colorado
all the replays i can find now feature the padres broadcast, but at the time i swear i saw a different broadcast clip (presumably that of the rockies) in which the color guy says that the man on third could have tagged up and scored the instant machado first touched the ball -- as opposed to when he finally caught it
this is correct and i had no idea, so good on whoever the rockies color guy is
― mookieproof, Sunday, 18 June 2023 00:05 (nine months ago) link
bases loaded, batter weakly pops it in front of the first baseman, ball lands fair, bounces foul.infield fly is called, batter out.is that the correct call?
― francisF, Thursday, 27 July 2023 00:50 (eight months ago) link
Without checking, I think so. The infield fly is in effect with fewer than two outs; once that's called, I think it's a dead ball.
― clemenza, Thursday, 27 July 2023 01:10 (eight months ago) link
You didn't say how many were out.
https://www.littleleague.org/university/articles/explanation-infield-fly-rule/#:~:text=Rule%202.00,occupied%20before%20two%20are%20out.
― clemenza, Thursday, 27 July 2023 04:08 (eight months ago) link
I'm wrong about it being a dead ball.
― clemenza, Thursday, 27 July 2023 04:09 (eight months ago) link
Sounds correct to me. The batter is out because of the infield fly rule, and the runners can advance at their own risk.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Thursday, 27 July 2023 09:34 (eight months ago) link
ok here’s the key sentence for me in that link:“If the hit becomes a foul ball, it is treated the same as any foul ball.”Less than 2 outs is all i remember (it was from my softball game last night btw). that’s just a foul ball then, yeah?
― francisF, Thursday, 27 July 2023 18:42 (eight months ago) link
that’s the crux of it for me, i could’ve made it simpler.infield fly was called, and i after, i go “what a second, it went foul!”. guy on the other team said definitely in support of the call, “yeah but it landed fair.” the ump had already blown an egregious call (on another rule) and i was much too incensed at that point than anyone should be playing in a fun co-ed league, so i just kept my mouth shut. But I still want to be vindicated, lol
― francisF, Thursday, 27 July 2023 18:54 (eight months ago) link
I get your confusion now-- that it shouldn't have been ruled an infield fly until its fair/foul status is determined.
I don't know the right answer.
― clemenza, Thursday, 27 July 2023 18:57 (eight months ago) link
Yes, because I hear a lot of umps say “infield fly! batter is out of fair!”
― francisF, Thursday, 27 July 2023 18:59 (eight months ago) link
*if fair (i shouldn’t post from my phone)
― francisF, Thursday, 27 July 2023 19:00 (eight months ago) link
Fun co-ed leagues need more Earl Weavers, spewing four-letter invective and kicking dirt on the umpire.
― clemenza, Thursday, 27 July 2023 19:01 (eight months ago) link
The infield fly rule only applies to fair balls (the ump is supposed to call "infield fly, batter out if fair" or something like that). So if the ball landed fair then the batter is automatically out and it doesn't matter where the ball rolls if it's not caught.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Thursday, 27 July 2023 19:03 (eight months ago) link
I wasn’t clear that it bounced foul in front of the bag (ie foul in any circumstance). Does that change it for you NoTime, or is it still called strictly as it lands?
― francisF, Friday, 28 July 2023 00:58 (eight months ago) link
I'm fairly sure it doesn't matter as long as it's a fair ball. The ball needs to be fair and to be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort, which could be in the infield in front of the bag, behind the bag on the infield dirt, or even in the shallow outfield.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Friday, 28 July 2023 06:51 (eight months ago) link
i never knew the origin of the dropped third strike rule. i found this fascinating. i also had no idea that a form of baseball went back to the 1700s!https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-dropped-third-strike-the-life-and-times-of-a-rule/
― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 8 October 2023 16:32 (six months ago) link
I saw this happen quite recently and I was shocked and delighted. Regular season game. Mayyyyybe Bobby Witt Jr?
― I’m going to get fined for being right, again (gyac), Sunday, 8 October 2023 16:43 (six months ago) link
It happens several times a game!
― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 8 October 2023 17:12 (six months ago) link
Sorry I meant I saw someone successfully outrun and reach.
― I’m going to get fined for being right, again (gyac), Sunday, 8 October 2023 17:17 (six months ago) link
it’s a silly rule but i guess i don’t mind it
probably because i was never a catcher
― mookieproof, Sunday, 8 October 2023 17:22 (six months ago) link