[Gulf Coast Blue]

FED baseball made some changes for the following year which does away with the automatic appeal.......however......I believe they made a bit of a boo-boo in their language.......

The following is from Tim Stevens.....rule interpreter for Washington State NFHS Baseball..........I have bolded and upsized an area I hope does not come to softball......

It reads....

---

8-2 Pen. (New) - Replace rule with:. . .For failure to touch a base (advancing or returning), or failure to tag up as soon as the ball is touched on a caught fly ball, the runner may be called out if an appeal is made by the defensive team. The defense may appeal during a live ball immediately following the play and before a pitch, legal or illegal. A live ball appeal may be made by a coach or any defensive player with the ball in his possession by tagging the runner or touching the base that was missed or left too early. A dead ball appeal may be made by a coach or any defensive player with or without the ball by verbally stating that the runner missed the base or left the base too soon. Appeals must be made (1) before the next legal or illegal pitch, (2) at the end of an inning, before the pitcher and all infielders have left fair territory, or (3) on the last play of the game, an appeal can be made until the umpires leave the field of play. NOTE: When a play, by its very nature is imminent and is obvious to the offense, defense, and umpire(s), no verbal appeal is necessary (e.g. runner attempting to retouch a base that was missed, or a failure to tag up and a throw has been made to that base or plate while a play is in progress).

APPEAL PROCEDURES AND GUIDELINES

1. Types

a. Missing a base

b. Leaving a base on a caught fly ball before the ball is first touched.

2. Live Ball. In all games an appeal may be made during a live ball by any fielder in possession of the ball touching the base missed or left too soon on a caught fly ball, or by tagging the runner committing the violation if he is still on the playing field.

3. Dead Ball. The dead ball appeal may be made: 1) Once all runners have completed their advancement and time has been called, a coach or any defensive player, with or without the ball, may make a verbal appeal on a runner missing a base or leaving a base too soon on a caught fly ball. The administering umpire should then make a decision on the play. 2) If the ball has gone out of play, runners must be given the opportunity to complete their base running responsibilities before the dead ball appeal can be made.

4. May Not Return. A runner may not return to touch a missed base or one left too soon on a caught fly ball if:

a) he has reached a base beyond the base missed or left too soon and the ball becomes dead,

b) he has left the field of play, or

c) a following runner has scored.

5. Advance. Runners may advance during a live ball appeal play. If a time out is requested for an appeal, the umpire should grant it, and runners may not advance until the ball becomes live again.

6. More Than One Appeal. Multiple appeals are permitted as long as they do not become a travesty of the game.

7. Awards. An appeal must be honored even if the base missed was before or after an award.

8. Tag-Ups. If a runner leaves a base too soon on a caught fly ball and returns in an attempt to retag, this is considered a time play and not a force out. If the appeal is the third out, all runs scored by runners in advance of the appealed runner and scored ahead of the legal appeal would count.

9. Fourth Out Appeal. An appeal may be made after the third out as long as it is made properly and the resulting appeal is an apparent 4th out.

10. End of Game. If any situation arises which could lead to an appeal by the defense on the last play of the game, the appeal must be made while an umpire is still on the field of play.

Rationale: The appeal play is a traditional play in baseball and has remained so in other rule codes.

There are some differences in how FED baseball handled the dead ball appeal..........allowing the coach to make an appeal is a mistake in my opinion (especially a live ball appeal........ouch......how are they going to do that??........they should have studied the SB rule a little better........Nahhhhhh......they would NEVER listen to SB people...........grin.

Joel