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Old Sun May 08, 2005, 12:39am
DG DG is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2004
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Quote:
Originally posted by Dave Reed
Quote:
Originally posted by DG


It is also pretty clear that J/R says that when he returned to 3B, if he was within a body's length of home when he passed it, this was close enough. And from the original post it sounded like he was within a body's length, so appeal from the defensive team should be denied. J/R gives examples of plays where close enough, is close enough, and also plays where missing by a large margin is cause for successful appeal. Whether J/R is correct or not is certainly a subject for debate, but given no other authoritive opinion that is well recognized then we have to go with what we can find in print.

I agree that we have to go with what we can find in print, but J/R actually says that the runner needs to touch home on the way back to third. And so does the BRD, and Childress claims that the PBUC manuals say the same thing.

J/R treats this topic in two places. In my 2004 edition, page 43 contains:
Touch or pass of a base: A runner who, in the course of running the bases, goes by the base (within a body's length) has either touched or passed the base; in either case he has "acquired" the base. If he has touched the base, he is not vulnerable to subsequent appeal that he has missed that base. If he has "passed" the base, he has failed to touch it, but is considered to have touched it until there is an appeal against his failure to touch. The defense has a responsibility to recognize a failure to touch a base. [End quote of J/R]

So J/R distinguishes between touched, passed, or acquired.

The second passage is the one you quoted early in this thread (page 71 in my edition.)

"A runner is vulnerable to appeal if (1) he does not touch a base when advancing (or returning) by such base (within a body's length) the final time. [7.02] [7.04d] [7.05i] [7.10b] An advance or return "by" a base does not include a complete bypass (outside a body's length) in an attempt to reach a subsequent base safely."

In both passages they require a touch, and by "touch", J/R means "contact." They use "passed" to mean "miss". And if a baserunner doesn't come within a body's length of a base, he hasn't missed it-- he has failed to acquire each base in order, and is subject to appeal for that non-correctable error. Bob Jenkins gave you an example of failure to acquire in order, and it is nearly identical to the third example given following page 71 of J/R.

In summary, J/R says that a runner has to touch (not merely come close) to each base the last time by. Furthermore, the runner needs to acquire each base in order every time they advance or retreat.
J/R does not say he has to touch on return, but be "within a body's length", on return.
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