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First of all, I agree that the "neighborhood play" should not be a consideration on the part of the umpire whenever the rules provide for a force play slide rule.
Secondly, when the "neighborhood play" *is* called, the pivot man should never be exempt from actually touching the base. He *must* still touch the base, however, he may not actually have the ball at the time he touches it. The umpire should not split hairs as to whether the pivot man was in contact with the base at the time he received the throw. But it has to be reasonably close and the play most be fluid.
I liken this to when 1st basemen pull their foot off the base a bit early when receiving the infielder's throw. You see this all the time. He doesn't want to keep his foot anywhere near the bag as the runner crosses the bag. The umpire understands this and doesn't nitpick about whether his foot was on the bag at the split instant he receives the throw provided ...
* the first baseman did, in fact, have contact with the bag just prior to receiving the throw.
* the first baseman doesn't leave the bag early as a means of receiving the ball sooner on a bang-bang play.
* the first baseman doesn't leave the bag early to facilitate catching a poor throw
* the first baseman doesn't leave the bag early to facilitate making a following play ... like a throw to the plate.
David Emerling
Memphis, TN
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