Interp of the Week - ANSWER

[Jim Porter]

Originally posted by Rog
.....I've got to humble disagree with you on this one. I have R1 safe at 3rd.
Why, because according to:
"J/R - Part III #13 Offensive Interference, Section IV:
[It is interference if a coach]
(3) physically assists a runner's advance or return to a base.
Penalty: such runner is out but the ball remains live. 7.09i

* OBR 7.09(i) In the judgement of the umpire, the base coach at third base, or first base, by touching or holding the runner, physically assists him in returning to or leaving third base or first base.

Both sections seem clear in the aspect of:
physically assists a runner's advance, returning or leaving.

Rog,

The coach in my situation clearly assisted the runner in returning to third base. The runner wasn't going to return. Instead, the runner was going on home where he probably would have been put out.

But the coach, by physically touching him (can't get much more of a physical touch than a collision,) stopped him from continuing home and getting put out. The coach's actions prevented the runner from being put out at home, and as a result, the runner safely returned to third with the coach's assistance.

I know what you think assistance means. We get the image of a Boy Scout aiding an old person across a busy street, or we think of Welfare and other public assistance programs. But that's not what it means here. Here, it means anything which aids or helps the runner, or gives him an advantage.

I also believe you may be misinterpreting the part about "returning to or leaving" third base. That part of the rule is there to ensure that an umpire understands that, not only can a coach not aid, help, or lend advantage to a runner in advancing, he cannot help him in returning either. It implies nothing further than that. Think about it, a runner can only be returning to or leaving third base - - there are no other possibilities.