Ejection in middle of play

[umpyre007]

Originally posted by mattwick
I recently had an interesting scenario present itself. Runners on first and third with one out. The batter hits a ground ball to the shortstop, and the runner on third breaks for home. The runner on third is caught in a rundown, in which a collision occurs as he is retreating to third base while the third baseman had possession of the ball. The base umpire ejected both the third baseman and the runner for raising their elbows during the collision. In the meantime, the runner from third is now between second and third, and the batter/runner is standing on second. The third baseman then throws the ball to the second baseman, who promptly tags out the runner between second and third.

The ruling on the field was that the ball was dead immediately after the two players were ejected, and that all other runners must go back to the bases they last safely occupied. I later looked this up in the rulebook, but could find no mention of it. What do you think?

The ball does not become dead until the umpire calls time at the end of all continuing action, at which time the ejections take affect.

JEA puts one scenario this way:

Situation: Runner on second. One out. Batter smashes a line drive into center field... the runner heads home and is called "Safe" on a close play. The catcher argues violently and is ejected from the game. Meanwhile, the batter-runner is advancing to second... the catcher fires to second for the putout. Does this out stand since the catcher had been ejected before the play?

RULING: The out stands. The ejection does not take effect until no further action is possible.