[greymule]

A physical assist has to involve actual touching. If the runner overruns 3B and then grabs the leg of the 3B coach to help himself back, or to slow himself down, that's a physical assist, even though all the coach did was stand there. Obviously, pushing a runner back onto a base or shoving him toward the plate or grabbing him to keep him from running would all qualify.

I was called out once 30 years ago because, on a sacrifice fly far into the outfield, the 3B coach swatted my butt to let me know when to go, as if I didn't know. That was a physical assist. Now if the coach had tapped me on the back to get me to turn around and then told me, "Wait till the ball is caught before you run," I wouldn't say that qualifies, though you might get an argument on that point from somebody else.

High-fives are not physical assists. The runner crashing into the coach and knocking him over doesn't ipso facto qualify either. But if the coach does anything physical to help the runner get up or get moving . . .

And don't take anyone other than another runner literally.

[Edited by greymule on Feb 24th, 2005 at 08:24 PM]