Quote:
Originally posted by Kaliix
Here's my question:
Why can't someone write the rule so that it clearly and unabiguously addresses the situation.
Why is it that the rule, as written, can't cover when the ball is considered lodged, what outs can be made (if any) with the lodged ball, and when does the ball become dead and bases awarded?
Why is that we need 20 interpretations to the rule???
This is not freakin' rocket science people. Geez!!!
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Kaliix:
It's illegal for the batter to interfere with the catcher's attempt to throw to retire a runner. Can B1 interfere and remain in the box? Does he have to leave the box? What if he simply obscures the catcher's vision? What if the interference comes from natural momentum? What if the batter's backswing creates the interference? On the steal of third must the batter duck to give the catcher a throwing lane? Shouldn't the batter leave the box the instant he understands the catcher will be throwing?
Most rule books don't address
most of those questions. Yet everyone seems happy with the written rule -- and then reads all the authoritative opinion and official interpretations that they can find.
The language of the FED statute is very simple -- if you believe that "lodged" means "stuck." Understand, most of the complaints here on the Board are made by umpires dissatisfied with the FED rule, not with the
ruling.
More than one has gone to great lengths to create third-world plays (even more bizarre than the actual play) to prove how "ridiculous" the FED Committee is. Atlanta Blue put the quietus on that:
Quote:
The logical answer is the player that caught the ball, even if the ball is "lodged", can do anything to cause an out (i.e., tag a base, tag a runner, make the catch, etc.). What he can't do is remove the glove and give/toss it to another player, or use the detached glove to tag a runner.
The problem lies not with the person that still has the ball, it lies with what to do when he can't give it to someone else. That's the point where we should stop allowing outs and award bases. Anything prior to trying to remove the ball stands.
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Years ago Jean Kerr, the wife of the drama critic of the
New York Times, wrote a best-selling book, later made into a movie:
Please Don't Eat the Daisies.
She and her family lived in Connecticut, well away from the Big City where husband Walter worked. They liked to sleep late, but their children were early risers. So Jean devised rules for them to follow: "Please don't eat the daisies" was one. "Don't glue together the pages of the Sunday paper" was not.
Her point, my point: You cannot write a rule to cover every event; you cannot
explain every rule and still keep the rule book manageable.
That's why we have rules interpreters. That's why we discuss rules on the Forum. That's when being an official is fun.