Hope everyone had a safe New Year's holiday.
This is the time of year when I crack open my baseball library to get ready for the new season. Recently, there has been quite a few posts concerning missed base/home appeals on this and other boards. After replying to some, and now checking the rules, I found out that some of my replies, and others, are ...... get ready for it ....... WRONG
.
I am only citing OBR. Not FED nor NCAA. With rule books and interpretations in hand, this is what I need to correct myself on.
Sitch A: R1, 2 outs. Ball is hit down right field line. As R1 advances around third base, he misses and falls down. F7 throws ball to F5. As R1 scrambles back to third base, F5 tags third base and appeals to the umpire that R1 missed it.
Approved ruling: R1 is out. The defense may appeal that a runner missed a base any time that the ball is live. It does not matter that the runner is in the vicinity of, and immediately returning to the base missed. A tag of the runner is not required.
This sitch can be applied to all bases, except home.
This ruling comes from
The Wendelstedt Umpire School Manual. After reviewing my JEA (unknown date) and the 2008 MLBUM, they do not address this. Relaxed and unrelaxed actions have been used by J/R (don't own) and do not seem to apply here.
Sitch B: The runner slides wide of the plate and the catcher misses with his sweeping tag effort. The runner gets up and decoys that he is going to the dugout then reverses his path abruptly and dives for the plate. The catcher jumps on the plate with the ball held securely and appeals before the runner touches it. Is this a proper appeal or does the run count?
RULING: This out stands since the runner did not make an “immediate effort to return.” (Umpire's judgment) At one point, the catcher would have been required to leave the plate area to make the play.
This ruling comes from said JEA and is supported by Wendelstedt.
I thought that as long as the runner who missed home was trying to touch, even after getting to the dugout, he must be tagged. Not true. "Immediate effort to return" and "vicinity" governs here.
I know that my JEA is an older version. If it has anything different on this, please let me know.
I tend to give more credence to JEA and Wendelstedt in these situations rather than J/R.
Thoughts, opinions, critisisms?