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Old Wed Apr 07, 2004, 08:08am
bob jenkins bob jenkins is offline
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Join Date: Aug 1999
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Quote:
Originally posted by gumpire
Quote:
Originally posted by gumpire
OBR 9.01(c) gives "Each umpire has authority to rule on any point not specifically covered in these rules."
Maybe you can tell me what part of this rule is so hard for all of you understand? [/B]
I'll try, once (w/o specific references):

"Each runner is entitled to the base he occupies ..." (I'll get to the ellipses in a minute): So, just reading this, what do we do if two runners are on the base?

"If two runners occupy a base, the base belongs to the leading runner": That answers that question.

"... (continuing from above) until he is forced to vacate it": An exception to the trailing runner rule above -- if a runner is forced, he can't safely occupy a base*.

"A runner is out for abandonment when he leaves the baseline": First, "leaves" is an active verb -- the runner must do something. Second, if you're going to call him out for abandonment when he's on the base, you're going to have to call every runner who is on second out -- you've already declared that part of the field to be "abandonment". Third, some "authoritative sources" (perhaps Evans or J/R, for example -- I don't have the specifics here) indicate not to call abandonment until the runner reaches foul territory.

""Each umpire has authority to rule on any point not specifically covered in these rules." : This play is specifically covered in the rules, although you might need to put a couple of rules together.

*Play: R1 only. B1 grounds to F3. For some reason R1 retreats to the base. F3 (a) tags R1, then steps on first; or (b) steps on first then tags R1. Ruling: (a) Double play. R1 was forced from the base, so he's out when tagged, even though he was touching the base at the time he was tagged (I'm sure you can see how this applies to the play at hand). (b) B1 is out, R1 remains at first -- the force was removed when the base was tagged, so R1 is again able to "legally occupy" first.
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