I am a first year high School umpire in Birmingham AL and I need some help on how to make a call in this situation:
Batter hits ball to shortstop.
Batter-runner beats throw to first, but does not touch the bag. I would
signal safe, and wait for an appeal from the defense, and then ring up the
out. Some say not to signal the out, because you don't have anything "yet".
Which is the proper way to handle this?

Thanks for any input now and in the future.

Mortgageump


[Edited by MORTGAGEUMP on Feb 18th, 2005 at 09:27 AM]

You are correct. Right from the NCAA test.

Way to go,guy.....one-for-one.You're on your way to being
an excellent umpire.You must have at least a
couple of outstanding guys helping to train you, and
a genius to steer you to this site.Good luck.

Fed ball you call him out as the force is still on. If the coach asks you tell him the runner missed the bag or call him out and holler runner missed bag.

If Alabama uses NCAA rules for High school ball then go with what was said above.

I give! Where is this mechanic coming from and I think we have already discussed to the full state of exhaustion, that there is NO force at first.

Cowboy:
Can you please give a reference for your call?
According to our state district director,the kid
has the proper call.And yes,we use Fed rules...

Here is a quote from "The Rules of Professional Baseball: A Comprehensive Reorganization and Interpretation" by Chris Jaska and Rick Roder.
" A runner who, in the course of running the bases, goes by a base (within a body's length) has either touched or passed the base; in either case he has "acquired" the base. If he has touched the base, he is not vulnerable to a subsequent appeal that he has missed that base. If he has "passed" the base, he has failed to touch it, but is considered to have touched it until there is an appeal against his failure to touch. The defense has a responsibility to recognize a failure to touch a base."
(P. 43)

FED 8.2.3

OK, I've read it [the case play]. That's what it says.
Now, I distinctly remember something about "no accidental appeals" - have I totally lost my mind? I do notice that this is one of the "new or revised" rulings. Did I miss the memo?

I will simply shake my head and sigh at the reference [yes, it's in there] to a "force play" on the BR @ 1st base.

Fed situation *8.2.3 states that the defense is required to appeal the play, and that casually stepping on the base is an appeal. It's interesting that they also say that it's a force play on the continuing action.

If the BR missed 1st and F3 simply caught the ball as he usually does with no other effort, would you consider that an appeal?

Is there a Fed definition of an appeal?

IIRC, FED has revised this play several times over the past several years. I've preferred to think of it not as an "accidental appeal" but as "a strict interpretation fo force out" (defense tags the base before the runner touoches the base). That's what happened in the play at hand.

The book says that is an appeal.

There is a big section about appeals in 8-5.