Establishing the Baseline

[Rich Ives]

Originally Posted by Blue37

Why don't they get rid of this language?

8-4-2 . . . Any runner is out when he:
a. runs more than three feet away from a direct line between bases to avoid being tagged or to hinder a fielder while the runner is advancing or returning to a base;

They did in OBR.

The rule now reads:

7.08 Any runner is out when—
(a) (1) He runs more than three feet away from his baseline to avoid being tagged unless his action is to avoid interference with a fielder fielding a batted ball. A runner’s baseline is established when the tag attempt occurs and is a straight line from the runner to the base he is attempting to reach safely

[Blue37]

Originally Posted by Rich Ives

They did in OBR.

The rule now reads:

7.08 Any runner is out when—
(a) (1) He runs more than three feet away from his baseline to avoid being tagged unless his action is to avoid interference with a fielder fielding a batted ball. A runner’s baseline is established when the tag attempt occurs and is a straight line from the runner to the base he is attempting to reach safely

Which is why I did not post the OBR rule, but thanks for posting it so there would be no misunderstanding by those who work multiple rules sets.

I also did not quote the NCAA rule as it does not contain the misleading language, so here it is:

Rule 8 Section 5. A runner is out when:
a. In running to any base, while trying to avoid being tagged out, the runner
runs more than three feet left or right from a direct line between the base
and the runner’s location at the time a play is being made.

Now if we could get NFHS to follow suit, all would be well.