[PeteBooth]

Originally posted by Duke

Batter received ball four and runs down to first, overruns first base, turns into foul territory and returns to the bag. No attempt to go to second. Pitcher fires ball to first to tag the runner. Ump calls the runner safe and defensive coach explodes saying the runner is only protected to first base. In softball, runner is safe. Can a batter/runner overrun first on a base on balls in Babe Ruth. I cannot find this situation in the rule book.

As others mentioned you will not find it in the rule-book and even the experts disagree on the interpretation.

Here's my view for what it's worth.

Why did the rule-makers (in all 3 Major rule rule-books) allow B1 to overrun first base to begin with.

ANSWER: To put some excitement in the game and Make the play close If a runner could NOT overrun first, the Defense would gain a BIG advantage because the runner would have to slow down in order to not risk over-running the base.

Now we get to ball 4, or to be more SPECIFIC a FREE PASS to first base where the term making a play close does not come into play. If you receive a free pass there's no reason to over-run it unless you are trying for the next base.

In FED as Bob pointed out on a NORMAL walk situation B1 may not over-run first. OBR is up in the air depending upon what source (Evans or J/R) you use and in NCAA/LL you can overrun first on a walk.

I believe Babe Ruth uses OBR (but I have been told some use FED rules as well), so if your Babe Ruth League uses OBR, then as Rich stated you need to contact the rules interpreter for your Babe Ruth league to get an answer.

If your Babe Ruth League uses FED then you cannot over-run first on a Normal Walk situation.

Pete Booth