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Originally Posted by azbigdawg
Well, I THOUGHT it was a simple question......some of you need to be working more games..........  |
I stayed out of this on purpose, as I was seemingly the antagonist on this one, and I didn't mean to be.
I've heard all the previous methods of calling apparent ties (extremely close plays ... whatever.) I'll add this one I have heard: If it SEEMS to be a tie, based on the visual sight of the foot hitting the bag and the sound of the ball hitting the glove, the ball must have hit the glove first - as the speed of sound is much slower than the speed of light.
I grant that to be a bit of a stretch, but no more so than the "reward the good play" theory (which seems to hinge solely on whether the fielder made an outstanding, average, or horrid play - and completely ignores whether the runner made an outstanding, average, or slothlike pace), nor the "ties go to the runner" by rule theory - which by the actual words of half of the rulebooks (including ASA) is technically correct, but quite probably not what they actually meant. I should note that several other rulebooks (across both stick and ball games) state specifically that the BR wins a tie but just an R does not (See OBR 7.08 as one example ... Pony softball is, if memory serves, another).
Truly, if measured to infinite degree, there cannot really be a tie in two individual moving events unless they are related (started simulateously, perfectly equal distance, speed, and acceleration, and no other forces acting on the system - probably only achievable in a lab). But I do understand that it's possible for two separate moving events to occur so close together that human eye measurement cannot distinguish which occurred first.