Rules Myths Part 1

[bob jenkins]

1) the OP is not the first person to discover this discrepancy between a "tie" on the BR and a "tie" with other runners. It's been discussed on-line since the day after Al Gore invented it (on the day Al Gore invented it, only porn was discussed).

2) All the rules codes (OBR, NCAA and FED) have the same "error."

3) So, my guess is that neither NCAA nor FED meant the rule to be different -- they just followed the OBR wording.

4) OBR has 234 (or some such number) "known errors" and this is one of them.

5) The general interp, regardless of the physics, is that the umpire determines which happened first and rules accordingly on all runners at all bases.

6) I agree that it's theoretically possible for the two separate events to happen at the same time. That theory, though, has no relevance to umpiring and no umpire worth his salt would rule one way on a "tie" at first and another way on a "tie" at second and certainly would NOT explain the ruling to the coaches that way.