[Rich Ives]

Originally posted by ump3
I understand that may have been reported by the WUA, but the "common sense" ruling was thrown out at this past year's Rules Committee meeting. This was because there are several rules which awards of bases do not seem to conform to the "common sense and fair play" way of thinking. In the interest in conformity, they have decided to give it a strict base award.

For instance:

Pitched ball which enters a player's uniform- 1 base.

Thrown or batted balls which enter a player's uniform- 2 bases.

I would tell the genuises that brought up the idea to give arbitrary base awards, "Why even have rules? Why not make every type award of bases based on the umpire's judgment?"

Roder says (in his 2004 updates) the interp is as follows:

28. MLB and WUA’s Joint Committee has made an interpretation to cover situations where a batted or thrown ball enters a player or coach’s uniform or the catcher’s gear. This has necessitated several changes in the Jaksa/Roder manual:
a. Chapter 2, section H, definition of lodged ball: “Lodged ball: baseball that remains on the playing field but has become wedged, stuck, lost, or unreachable. If a ball impacts something, stops abruptly, and does not fall or roll immediately, it has lodged. Exceptions: 1) A ball that becomes stuck in a glove remains in play. The glove/ball combination is treated as a live ball. 2) A batted or thrown ball (does not include a pitched ball) that enters a player or coach’s uniform or the catcher’s gear is treated differently than other lodged balls. When a batted (or thrown) ball enters a player’s uniform or catcher’s gear the ball is to be ruled dead. The umpire must employ common sense and fairness and place the runners such that the act of the ball becoming dead is nullified. The umpire may not, however, enforce any outs that may have occurred had the ball remained live. Outs occurring before the ball went out of play stand. [MLB 5.10]”

Note the absence of a fixed award.