[greymule]

Isn't ASA's 2003 wording regarding correcting baserunning errors after an award more of a clarification than a rule change?

Looking through the 2002 book, I can't find anything that says a runner could advance to the next base after the ball became dead and then return to correct a baserunning error. The change for 2002 said, "When the ball becomes dead, runners may return to touch a missed base or one left too soon even if they have advanced, touched, and remain a base beyond the missed base or the base left too soon." But it doesn't say, "even if they then advance, touch, and remain. . . ." Their grammar is very faulty here, so it's hard to tell exactly what they mean, but I assume it's this: B1 hits a ball off the fence. He misses 1B, touches 2B, and slides into 3B, and the throw goes into DBT. Even though he has advanced beyond the missed base, he can return to touch it, something he could not do before 2002. But I'm not sure that if he got up and ran home on the award, he could then retouch his way back to 1B to correct the error and then score.

Case book plays 8.6-49 and 8.6-51 should have been deleted or revised after the 2002 rule change, as they imply that if the runner is on or beyond the next base when the ball becomes dead, he cannot return to correct a baserunning error. They make it clear that before 2002, ASA paralleled Fed. It seems to me that with its 2002 change, ASA was saying, "We're no longer like Fed. You can't become stuck and unable to return because you were on or beyond the next base when the ball became dead. We are now like OBR in this area."

Case book play 8.6-50 (new for 2002) specified "When the ball becomes dead, [a] runner may return to touch a missed base or one left too soon regardless of how far the runner has advanced." But it doesn't say "advances." Present perfect and present are quite different.

However, play 8.6-52, which also remained in the 2002 book, seems to contradict the others: B1 hits a home run over the fence. As he runs the bases, he stops between 2B and 3B, thinking he may have missed 1B. He goes back and retouches 2B[,] then [proceeds] on to 1B, which he touches[,] and completes his trip around the bases. Ruling: Whether B1 missed 1B or not, when he returned, he did so properly by retouching 2B. The home run is legal. (Then the ruling gives the obvious exceptions for divisions in which home runs are not run out.)

So 8.6-52 is a pre-2002 play in which the ball became dead and B1, depending on where he was at that point, proceeded to touch either the next base (2B) or the next two bases (1B and 2B) but was still allowed to return to correct a baserunning error.

I may be way off, but I'm beginning to suspect that ASA has carelessly used "when the award is made" when they meant "when the ball becomes dead." If not, they must explain (1) At what instant do we consider the award made? (2) Exactly when should we make the award? (3) Do we really do one thing if the runners don't ask where they should go and another thing if they do? They must also explain the difference (if any) between the "first" base and the "next" base.

[Edited by greymule on Jan 24th, 2003 at 03:29 PM]