Offensive Interference

[GarthB]

From JEA:

"An allowance should be made for the batter-runner to step inside the foul line as he reaches the immediate vicinity of first base; otherwise, the base is not readily accessible for him to touch since the runner’s lane runs adjacent and past the base in foul territory."



Originally, the foul line ran to the center of the bag at first. When this was changed consideration had to be given to allow the runner legal access to touch the base during a play that had the potential of involving a running lane violation.

GB