[David B]

Couldn't get it to attach so I'm just pasting it here. This was based on Carl's articles on this topic that traced the FPSR for the last 25 years. It covered through 2005 but I don't know of any significant changes the last two years.

If I missed something let me know!



Force Play Slide Rule (FPSR) Q and A (based on NFHS rules and interpretations)


Here are questions regarding the FPSR (Force Play Slide Rule) in FED (High school baseball). Base your rulings on the NFHS force-play-slide rule. Here are the salient points, but be advised: You can’t answer some plays correctly without knowing casebook and Website rulings from the FED.

• At a force base the runner may not slide at or into the fielder if he is on the base or slide beyond the base: If he does so and makes illegal contact or alters the pattern of play, the umpire calls interference.

• The runner must slide on the ground head first or feet first in a straight line or away from the fielder.

• The runner does not have to slide if he runs to the opposite side of the fielder.

• If interference is called, two are always out: the interferer and the batter-runner.

• Other runners must return to the bases occupied at the time of the pitch.

Assume, unless specified differently, that there is one runner on first (R1) and the batter has hit a ground ball to an infielder.

[I]The questions and answers:[/I]

Play 1: R1 steals. The throw goes wide right at second. R1 slides so far to the left of the base he cannot reach it with his extended arm. He does manage to scramble back safely as F4's tag is too late.

1. Ruling: Safe.
Comment: The slide restrictions do apply in steal situations. It is true that R1 could not reach and maintain the bag. Hence, his slide was illegal except: He slid away from the fielder and so was not guilty of interference.

Play 2: The shortstop shovels the ball to F4, standing on the bag. R1, feet first with one buttock on the ground and his foot raised as high as the fielder’s knee, slides into F4, who overthrows first.

2. Ruling: R1 is out; the umpire awards B1 second.
Comment: R1 executed a legal slide.

Play 3: R1 slides head first with one arm raised above his head. He slams into F4, who cannot throw to first.

3. Ruling: B1 is safe. Comment: R1's slide is legal. The only restriction on a head-first slide is that the runner must not slide beyond the base.

Play 4: The shortstop throws wildly to F4, who is behind the bag when he grabs the ball. R1, feet first with one buttock on the ground and his foot raised as high as the fielder’s knee, slides across the base and into F4, who overthrows first.

4. Ruling: Double play.
Comment: The slide was legal until R1 went beyond (across) the base and contacted F4.

Play 5: As the shortstop takes the throw, he crosses the bag readying himself to fire to first. Before he can throw, R1 slides, then pops-up on the base. He does not contact the fielder, whose throw to first is straight and true — but not in time.

5. Ruling: "That’s nothing."
Comment: R1 executed an illegal slide, but there was no contact and he did not alter the throw. The defensive coach might argue the pop-up slide "distracted" his fielder, who is a only a freshman. Your reply: "You ought to play upperclassmen in the infield."

Play 6: F4 falls onto the base in a kneeling position when he takes the throw. R1 slides into him. His leg strikes the fielder in the side, and F4 cannot throw to first.

6. Ruling: No interference: B1 is safe.
Comment: The umpire would have ruled interference because the runner’s foot struck the fielder higher than his knee — except the runner was not "in a standing position."

Play 7: F6 takes the ball and crosses the base, moving three or four steps into the right-field side of second. R1 does not slide; rather, he goes into second standing up. F6 throws wildly to first, pulling the first baseman from the bag.

7. Ruling: B1 is safe.
Comment: "Is F6 a freshman, too?" The runner does not have to slide as long as he does not contact the fielder or alter the pattern of play.

Play 8: R1 is moving on the pitch. The shortstop tries — not in time — for the out at second. The second baseman throws the ball to first, after which R1 pops-up on the base, bumping into the fielder.

8. Ruling: Double play.
Comment: Though the contact occurred after the throw and did not alter the play, it resulted from an illegal slide. I cannot stress the FED philosophy too much, here: If the runner slides illegally and contacts a fielder, the umpire will call interference.



Play 9: Bases loaded. F4 fields the ball and throws to F6 to start the double play. The shortstop catches the throw and forces out R1. F6 crosses the bag to the right-field side. F6 now throws to first as retired R1 begins his slide into second. Retired R1's slide is clearly to the right side of the bag (the side F6 is now on). R1 is sliding towards F6, but he misses the shortstop by a foot or two as F6 keeps moving after the throw. F6's throw is in time to retire B1 at first. Meanwhile, R3 scores.

9. Ruling: The play stands.
Comment: The question is: May the other runners advance? If interference is the call, they must return to the bases occupied at the time of the pitch, regardless of which base they last touched before the interference. Even though it is obvious the runner is illegally sliding toward the fielder, it is not interference: There was no contact, and the slide did not alter the pattern of play. The ball remains alive: two out, R3 in, R2 on third.

Play 10: The ball is smashed on one hop to F6, who flips to second. The throw to first nails R1 in the helmet. He is perhaps thirty feet from second when he is hit.

10. Ruling: Double play.
Comment: The priest would assign at least 10 Hail Mary’s as penance for your language. But the play is based on a Rumble ruling in the FED News, #1, March 1998. (You’ll recall that was the year he restructured the Force-Play-Slide Rule at 8-4-2b, c, and d. It’s clear he was up on what the Committee wanted.)

Play 11: When F4 takes the throw, he comes off the base directly down the line toward first. As he is about to throw, a sliding R1 smashes him with a leg raised no higher than the standing fielder’s knee. F4 cannot throw to first.

11 Ruling: The play stands.
Comment: Though the runner altered the pattern of play, he did so with a legal slide. The fielder is at fault.

Play 12: No outs. The bases are loaded when the coach signals for that rarest of plays, the triple steal. B1 rolls to short. R1 is out at second just after speedy R3 crosses the plate. R1 pops up and jostles F4, who nevertheless gets off a throw, in time to nip the slowest runner on the team at first.

12. Ruling: Interference: Automatic double play.
Comment: That the defense completed the double play is irrelevant. Your call of interference at second means runners (R2/R3) must return to the bases occupied at the time of the pitch.