[chris s]

Originally posted by Warren Willson

If I may I will offer a purely personal opinion on this concept, which may help clarify the issue for you.

1. The principle under consideration here is whether the fielder has a right to make a throw from dead ball territory.

2. The expressed intent in OBR 5.10(f), and not disputed by you, is to say that a fielder may NOT make such a throw from dead ball territory if he "falls". Note that the rule says "falls" and not "falls down". In other words, he must remain on his feet and in control of his body such that he is not in the act of "falling" when he releases the ball to make the throw.

3. The issue of "loss of body control" is one of establishing the proper timing, in order to clearly decide that the fielder was NOT IN THE ACT of "falling" when he released (threw) the ball. It implies that whether or not the ball is released, either before or after falling, it would NOT be a legitimate throw from dead ball territory if the fielder was in the act of "falling" when he released the ball and finally "falls". The latter case is established, under NCAA rules, by an evident "loss of body control" before the ball was released. In that sense, as Carl says, the "falling" and the "loss of body control" ARE effectively the same thing.

The principle followed in the BRD in this case is, IMHO, a legitimate one. The OBR clearly doesn't define what it means to "fall". Neither, as you say, does the NAPBL, JEA, J/R or any other official or authoritative source. We must interpret that for ourselves under OBR. However, the NCAA certainly HAS defined what it means to "fall", and their definition includes this concept of "loss of body control". It is perfectly appropriate, IMHO, to use the NCAA's more specific definition in preference to a mere general dictionary definition, where no other relevant specific definition exists elsewhere, when deciding for ourselves the question of what it really means to "fall" in such circumstances. The specific should always be preferred to the general in interpreting legislation, and using precedent from a comparable source is an equally accepted principle for fairly interpreting legislation.

Cheers,

Warren, above you mention throwing while falling the same as having fallen? I have one HS field that has a skinned infield, slopes towards FBL.When it rains, we have a nice pig wallow area that is chalked off, gives F3 about ten feet of live ball area. Numerous times I have seen a pop foul get caught and fielder gets throw off as he is falling on his ass. I guess this would be a time play?(grin) ass hits mud before throw, award bases. Throw gets off before ass hits, play it! Would you agree?