Missed Home
 

With a runner on 2nd, B1 singles. R2 attempts to score and there is a close play at the plate. F2 misses the tag as R2 misses the plate. F2 jumps up quickly, steps on home plate and yells " I'm appealing!" as he fires to 2nd to prevent B1's advance. As F2 appealed, R2 was (a) scrambling back to the plate, or (b) heading to the dugout. What do we have?

Was he still in the dirt circle?

Safe in A - Unrelaxed
Out in B - Relaxed

A: unknown. In his "scramble" did the runner touch the plate?

B: Out.

what in the heck do you mean Unrelaxed or relaxed? what is the hell does that mean.

not in the question.....it was he said "i'm appealing" so he touch home plate not the runner..

I think their trying to tell you the tag must be applied.

Unrelaxed action means play is still in progress
Relaxed action, unrelaxed action has come to an end {no baserunning or play in progress}.

From what information you've made available, runner in A, if he touched the plate would be safe. It would be unrelaxed action and F2 needed to tag him.

In "B", we have relaxed action and the runner would be out on the appeal.

Why would this matter? Are you confusing the rule change for failing to run on a dropped third strike with missing home plate?

Relaxed / Un-Relaxed action are terms used by the authorities ie; Evans / Roder to explain when an appeal will be acknowldeged.

Generally speaking when action is "un-relaxed" meaning runner scrambling back etc. the umpire will not honor any sort of an appeal and the runner MUST be tagged in order to record the out.

When action is relaxed meaning action is stopped etc. then the umpire will recognize the appeal.

Example: Ground ball to F4 who throws to F3. B1 beats the play but does not touch first base. B1 is some 10-12 ft passed the bag and F3 steps on first and says "Blue B1 missed the bag" - Umpire will make the ruling in this case out.

Same as above EXCEPT B1 after passing first base immediately scrambles back (action = un-relaxed). In that instance B1 must be tagged in order to get the out.

Therefore, in your play when R3 was scrambling back to touch home plate an appeal will NOT be honored.

Further clarification of "heading back to the dug-out" is needed but generally speaking in that case all F2 needs to do is step on the plate an make the appeal. You cannot expect F2 to chase after R3.

In summary the terms relaxed / un-relaxed are not in the rule-book but used by authorities to help explain the appeal rules.

Pete Booth

Dirt circle only applies to strike 3 situations

read the OP.... F2 said Im appealing then threw the ball to 2nd to stop the advancing BR.....

ok here is the answer...

In (a), R2 is not out and the run counts. F2 would have had to tag him for the appeal. In (b), it is an appeal play and R2 is out since he left the plate area heading for the dugout. The runner has to make an Immediate effort to return, of course this is a judgment call.

So....you already knew the answer, but asked everyone just to see who else did? Why? Is there going to be a quiz later on or something?

Yes I knew the answer... I just got the 2009 College study guide book and wanted to throw out some questions...LOL