Papa C.
The rule in question 7.09 states that, "It
IS interference by a batter or a runner when (l)He
FAILS TO AVOID a fielder who is attempting to field a batted ball,..."
Since the crux of the definition is the term "FAILS TO AVOID" and I have unambiguously defined avoid as "to keep away from or keep clear of" then I can say with complete confidence that a runner, who makes contact with a fielder attempting to field a batter ball, has met the definition of "failing to AVOID" by making contact with the fielder.
It is not a stretch or a leap of logic that I am making here. Failing to avoid means making contact. Since the rule states that it
IS interference if the runner fails to avoid then, quite simply, contact=interference.
I fail to see how that logic is unclear?
If you think it is, please show me where?
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Originally posted by Carl Childress
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Originally posted by Kaliix
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Is it possible to have contact and no interference? Sure, it's possible and that is what in fact seemed to have happened on the play described in this thread.
Unfortunately, that would involve some sort of delayed interference/play-on-advantage theory type rule which is not yet a rule covering interference. That may be something that could be investigated as a rules change.
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Originally posted by Jim Porter
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So, then, you're saying the proper course of action is to call interference on mere contact whether or not it actually interfered with a fielder's attempt to field the ball? And you're saying that's clear and unambiguous? Show me.
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Originally posted by Kaliix
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Fair enough:
From the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Second Edition:
Avoid v.t. 1. to keep away from; keep clear of.
The defintion of avoid, applied to our circumstance, means that the runner must keep clear of or away from the fielder. That would mean that by touching the fielder, the runner has failed to keep clear of or away from the fielder. If the runner did, then he could not have made contact with fielder.
Hence avoid means no contact. Therefore contact=interference.
Kill the play, enforce the penalty and in the case of the original play in this thread, keep the run from scoring.
I feel the whole "whether or not it actually interfered with a fielder's attempt to field the ball" argument is misleading. Interference is defined in numerous ways in the rules. Some of them may not involve plays in which the actions defined in the rules result in actual interference, meaning that they impacted and altered the play. But they are still interference and should still be called.
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No, that's not what Jim was saying. He was asking you to cite some section in the rule book that indicates in "clear and unambiguous" terms that "contact" is automatially "interference." A dictionary won't help. [/B]
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