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Rule Change #17: Provision made for one base award when detached equipment is used to field a pitched ball.

The Official Rules provide for base awards when a fielder touches a live batted or thrown baseball with detached equipment. However, the rule makers forgot to address the same situation with regard to pitched balls. The award in the new rule, 7.05(j), is one base from the base occupied at the time of the infraction. This interpretation had been in place for some time in the PBUC and MLB manuals.

ESO editor note: The rule was tacked on to the end of Rule 7.05 as the new letter “j.” The other rules related to use of detached equipment are letters “a” through “e.” Umpires should be aware that over the many years the rulebook has been in existence, new items have been inserted in a disjointed fashion. One must be persistent in order to find all aspects of such rules; they will not always appear in one place or in logical succession.

Source https://www.eofficials.com/controlpa...ciatingLibrary

Someone forgot to tell someone to tell someone. Note editor's strong comment concerning the rulebook.