[BlueLawyer]

Where does this end?

Play: R1, 0 out. F6, who thinks R1 might be stealing on the pitch, is cheating towards the second base bag. The batter hits what intially appears to be a line drive towards second. The liner short hops F6 (no intentional drop), but he fields it and then steps on the bag, forcing R1. R1, dutifully retreating towards first because he didn't want to get doubled off, is now plunked in the back of the skull with F6's throw attempting to turn two. Did R1 interfere? Must I now declare the BR out also?

Are you kidding me?

Was R1, under all circumstances supposed to avoid F6's throw to first, including, literally, eyes in the back of his head (and, I take it, through his batting helmet)?

The so-called halfway rule (which means, in all seriousness, that a runner who suspects he might be forced would have to get down or out of the way 45 feet from second base.) appears nowhere in the official rules of FED or OBR or the casebooks that I have. Besides that, where are both umpires looking in a two-man system on a double play at second? At second, of course. The BU is looking to make sure the fielder has possession of the ball and puts the tag on the base before R1 gets there; the PU is primarily responsible for the crash, if there is one, at or beyond the second base bag. Who is looking in the general direction of the right-field foul pole on this play?

I am a firm believer in not drawing lines on the baseball field that are not already called for in the rules. We already have a 45-foot line on the way from home to first. Are we now drawing 45 foot lines between first and second, second and third and third and home?

Here's what the FED rule says: "Any runner is out when he does not legally slide and causes illegal contact and/or illegally alters the actions of a fielder in the immediate act of making a play, or on a force play, does not slide on a direct line between the bases . . . " 8-4-2b. The penalty calls for the BR to be out also. The original sitch does not involve a slide, so we can dispense with that part of the rule. And, as already mentioned, R1 is not forced to slide, but if he slides, he must do so legally (i.e., on the direct line between the bases). Now we are left with determining whether R1 "illegally" altered the actions of a fielder in the immediate act of making a play.

So here's the basic question under the FED rules: In the original sitch, is R1 illegally altering the actions of the fielder by getting hit in the thigh? I did not see the play, obviously. But I am going to tell you that I am an awful long way from ringing up two when a runner gets plunked in the thigh 6 feet from second.

Strikes and outs!