[greymule]

ASA includes "fake tag" in its definitions and its index and devotes POE #19 to it, so I think it's fair to say there is a fake tag rule. Of course it is obstruction, but a special type, considered unsportsmanlike and exposing the offender to ejection.

The definition is less than enlightening (and its last sentence fractures some grammar). It doesn't say whether a fake tag includes feigning a throw or touching a base as if in possession of the ball. But they do call it fake tag, not fake play. It does say that if the runner does not slide, slow down, or stop running, there's no violation (but give a warning anyway).

POE #19 adds that obstruction is an act of a fielder in the base path. Where was that outfielder who said, "I got it"?

In my opinion, the way you call the fake tag depends on how broadly or narrowly you interpret the rule. Absent case book examples, we have to make our own judgments. I agree that if the fielder gets in the runner's way and causes him to slow down, that's obstruction. But just acting as if he has the ball on a force at 2B isn't enough for me, no matter how the runner reacts.

As far as the danger of sliding goes, a runner who knows how to slide is safer sliding on a close play than going in standing up. I slid five thousand times and never got more than a raspberry. (And with metal spikes and intent to upend infielders, too, and nobody ever got hurt.) And if every slide is potentially dangerous, then so is every potential crash because a runner didn't slide. I think the danger is especially great when a runner tries to change to a slide at the last instant—something a fake tag might well cause.