Ok here is the situation I am BU

R3 1 out. Batter hits a fly ball to right R3 in a clueless attempt makes a run home and turns on the plate back to the dugout. Base coach is yelling for R3 to return to 3rd. He does. On the appeal I call safe. Saying that R3 turned directly after touching home and returned. Should he have had to retouch. I'm questioning it a little now.

See OBR 7.10(b). Bases must be touched in order when advancing or returning. He touched home and in order to return to third he must retouch home. If not, he is out for touching the bases out of order.

I'm confused of this is different rule codes. Does an appeal count as a play. If the defense appeals that R2 left early, can they also appeal that R3 left early, or does the first appeal cancel the right to appeal R3?

If all base runners left early you can appeal them all, one at a time. If time has not been called runners may return to touch while you are appealing the first one.

Yes an appeal is a play -- except for the purpose of the "no appeal following a play" rule.

In the original situation -- if R3 didn't pass the plate, then he doesn't need to "retouch" it when he returns to third.

Two questions...

Is there a rule system that allows appeals while time is called?

The only rules I'm familiar with are LL and OBR. In LL if you leave early, there's no appeal. The penalty is that all runners may advance a maximum of one base on the play and no runner may score. What rule systems allow appeals on leaving early?

I really need to get myself a rule differences book if I'm going to do this beyond the LL level.

FED does.

You are confused, when we say leave early, the appeal is about if the batter re-touched the base after the ball was touched. When you hear leave early, you are thining about a league with no lead offs, and leaving early means stepping off the base.

In FED, the defensive coach may make a verbal dead ball appeal. All he has to do is ask for it, no throwing the ball around. In OBR the ball must be live. But if you believe you have more than one runner you might want to appeal it would be smart to call time so one runner can't go back while you are making an appeal on another. Then, when the ball is put back in play, you can appeal two runners.

Defensive players can also make a verbal dead ball appeal in FED.

I'm confused about did he "directly...and returned", or "back to the dugout"? If toward the dugout, then he had to retouch, right? If back to third directly, then he's safe, right?

Ok he pivoted on the plate but made a walk to the dugout then to the bag. Does he have to retouch?

Assuming the third base dugout, if runner pivoted on the plate and returned, he doesn't have to return to home. If he stepped past the base, he needs to retouch on his way back. Assuming 1st base dugout, you're very likely to need to retouch.

akalsey wrote: <i>The only rules I'm familiar with are LL and OBR. In LL if you leave early, there's no appeal. The penalty is that all runners may advance a maximum of one base on the play and no runner may score. What rule systems allow appeals on leaving early?</i>

FIRST, this applies to "leaving early" on a pitch, NOT "leaving early" on a caught line drive or fly ball.

This is incorrect. Runners may only advance as far as they are "pushed" by a batter's clean hit. On a HR, for example, they all score.

The only "no runner may score" situation is, with the bases loaded, the batter hits a ball within the infield and no outs are recorded. In that case, the runner on 3B is removed from the bases without scoring and the others advance one base.

For leaving early on a line drive/fly ball - same as OBR - appeal required.

Okay, what I said was gross oversimplification. My apologies;- I tend to be concise when writing and should probably be more verbose when talking about a rule.

My point was simply that there is no way that a runner leaving early on a pitch is out by his action. I've had LL coaches try and appeal that the runner had a leadoff when the pitch occured so he should be out. That's what I thought the question was about.

akalsey,

You SHOULD have a rule book regardless of what level you umpire!