[mbyron]

Originally Posted by jwwashburn

Why would you rule that way? If the runner attempted to avoid the catcher, how could it possibly be malicious contact?

Attempting to avoid contact is not the requirement. Sliding OR avoiding contact is the requirement, and according to the OP the runner failed to meet it. That runner initiated contact and thus illegally altered the play.

But even if you regard attempting to avoid contact as the requirement, the runner did not even do that in the OP. "...the runner, who does not slide and makes to [i.e. no] attempt to avoid the catcher, hits the catcher and the catcher does not catch the ball." Assuming that's a typo there, this sure sounds like MC to me.

Originally Posted by jwwashburn

Again, if I have a runner that attempts to avoid contact then, I do not have a runner that caused illegal contact.

From what I understand, the wording here indicates that the runner is not allowed to illegally slide. Certainly, you are not trying to institute the mythical slide rule, are you?

The FED rule requires the runner to slide or avoid contact. It does not say slide or try to avoid contact. You seem to be misreading it.

Originally Posted by jwwashburn

So, I have a runner trying avoid contact-he is fine. The OBS call is hard to say with seeing it. But, you can certainly have OBS without the fielder covering every inch of the base with body. If the runner does not make it to the base because of the contact with a catcher without the ball, then I would rule OBS.

A fielder blocking a base is liable to be called for OBS. That is not a license for the runner to barrel into him or otherwise violate the FED sliding rules. That sounds like what happened here, which is why I'm leaning toward MC. All he had to do was slide legally: any contact then is legal, and if F2 is blocking the base without the ball he's guilty of OBS.

In general, the burden is on the runner to follow the sliding and MC rules first, since the fielder is in the more vulnerable position. If he does that, then I'll look at OBS. In the OP it seems that F2 was just standing there waiting for the throw and the runner initiated contact. It doesn't sound to me as if this runner followed the sliding or MC rules, so I'm not going to worry about OBS.

The play could be a "train wreck" if the throw led F2 into the runner's path, but the OP doesn't say that. In that case, it's HTBT, but I would not expect the runner to avoid contact, since he didn't initiate it.