[WindyCityBlue]

When I requested the interp from one of the IHSA baseball rules interpreters, I asked him in reference to the play as explained in the original post.

He said that the spirit of the rule is that the umpire should only rule the ball dead after it lodges in a defensive player's or umpire’s uniform/equipment AND the ball becomes unplayable. If a ball goes in an umpire’s ball bag or inside a player’s shirt, play will not easily continue and a "Dead Ball" call is in order. The offense is awarded bases based on the fact that had we allowed the kid to dig in his jersey or go into the umpire's ball bag he/she certainly would have advanced.

He said that the major Federation rules differences (from NCAA & OBR) are designed to prevent injury, speed up the game, encourage sportsmanship and involve as many athletes as possible. He related the batter’s box rule from a few years ago, as an example. The intent was to speed up the game and promote sportsmanship. Ideally a batter would not have the ability to show up an umpire and the game would move faster if he/she couldn’t wander between pitches. For the first two years, we had umpires enforcing it to the letter - a kid thinks it is ball four and starts walking to first on a borderline 3-1 pitch. It is called a strike and then the kid is called out for being out of the box. This even happened in the Colorado and Illinois High School State Finals. The outcry was incredible and the Fed made a point of clarification. Now, we've learned, “The intent of restricting the batter to the box is to prevent a delay in the game. If violation of this rule results in a delay, the result shall be a Strike called on that batter.”

He said that the same thought goes with the previous rule interpretation concerning plays of this type. Since the defense would not be jeopardized by handing, tossing or otherwise transferring the ball to another for the purpose of finishing a play and the offense clearly is not at any more risk, the play should be allowed.

He referred me to a play involving a catcher that lost his mitt (ball inside) on a swipe tag at home. There was no collision but when the mitt went flying, seeing this, the third base coach sent the next runner home. The catcher only had time to pick up the mitt with both hands (not putting it on) and tag the sliding runner. Since the tag was applied prior to the runner reaching home, he was called out - correctly! Again, the supporting rule is that the ball shall be secured by the mitt or bare hand when making the play.

If you feel that this interpretation is incorrect, I invite you to discuss any of the plays I mentioned as examples in my earlier posts (or this one) with your state rule interpreter. I would be surprised if they argue with this one. Logic should prevail with most of our rulings and I would have a hard time penalizing a kid that makes this kind of terrific play.