[greymule]

I brought up these plays because I was struck by the fact that, unlike in baseball, a fielder with the ball can touch a missed base and appeal to the umpire even if the runner is making an immediate attempt to return. In terms of the mechanic, I think ASA is right in requiring the umpire to make the "safe" sign, as not doing so would announce that the runner missed the plate. I have often added a verbal, "You missed him," which announces the reason for the safe call but does not indicate either way about the runner touching the plate.

Obviously a runner trying to score could slide and miss the plate. I just don't think a runner can slide into home plate and miss it. When I am president of ASA, I will have "into" changed to "at" in the case book.

Don't ever assume that because someone played at a certain level, he knows anything about the rules. I know guys who were in the pros—even the majors—and don't know things that we would consider basic. Their attitude is that you just play the game and the umpire calls the rare odd occurrence. They feel that they wouldn't have gained any advantage by studying the rules.

I guarantee that 95 percent of slow-pitch players know very little about the rules. They just go by what seems "right," and as people have noted, that causes problems for the umpires. Frankly, the fact that many slow-pitch umpires also don't know the rules is a contributing factor.