This actually happened in a game last night. R1 stealing second. The throw is late and the runner goes in standing up (even though I am yelling "get down"). The shortstop gets the throw and turns to tag the runner who has one foot on the base and the other past the base helping him keep his balance. The shortstop turns around and puts on a tag that forces the runner to fall off the base. The umpire calls the runner out. As the umpire returns to the A position, I tell him, "Blue, he pushed the runner off the bag." (I am coaching first base). Even more surprising than the call was his response. He said, "Yeah, he did, but he didn't push him very hard." I couldn't believe what he had just said to me. I said, "You have to be kidding me. You can't force a runner off the bag and get him out." He then made the situation worse by saying, "I know he pushed him off, but he might have fallen over anyway." Since when do we make calls by "might have"?

If the runner didn't have secure, stable posession of the bag (and it sounds like he didn't), then the runner is out.

Next time, your runner will remember to slide.

Ditto with Bob. The runner has to have secure possession of a base. If a normal tag causes the runner to come off the base, he's out. Should've gotten secure possession.

Rich

""Yeah, he did, but he didn't push him very hard." "I know he pushed him off, but he might have fallen over anyway."

These two remarks are cause for protest. The BU admitted F6 PUSHED the runner. That makes it NOT a 'normal' tag. An umpire cannot make a call by 'might have'.

Bob

Thanks
 

Thanks guys for sharing your opinion. I did tell the player that had he slid like he is taught, this would never have happened. I guess I was more frustrated with the answer I got from the umpire than the actual result. Now that I think about it, that could be what he meant by "didn't tag him very hard." I guess maybe I just took it a different way than he meant it.

"Since when do we make calls by "might have"?"

Since last night.

Exactly which rule would be under protest here?

Kent Hrbek strikes again!