Appeal play?
 

This happened during our last baseball game of the season last night and we play under Fed rules.

R3 comes home on a single only fails to touch the plate (don't get me started, he should have touched the plate). There was no play at the plate or anything that would have prevented him from touching the plate (i.e., catcher wasn't in the way, etc.). The umpire called him out without the defensive team appealing.

The rule I found regarding this is 8.2.5:

If a runner who misses any base (including home plate) or leaves a base too early, disires to return to touch the base, he must do so immediately. If the ball becomes dead and the runner is on or beyond the succeeding base, he cannot return to the missed based and, therefore, is subject to being declared out upon proper and successful appeal.

I know there's been some discussion on when/if an umpire can just call the runner out so I'm not sure how that jibes with the above rule (or if there is another Fed rule that supercedes/is more appropriate). Any clarification or input would be appreciated.

For the record I'm glad he was called out as maybe now he'll be more attentive in his base running. I just want to be sure I understand the rule in this case. Thanks.

A few years ago, Fed required that, after play had stopped, umpires call runners out for missing bases. No appeal from the defense was necessary. I can't remember whether the same applied to runners who had left bases before a fly ball was caught.

So that ump was probably going by the old rule.

Note: the word is jibes, not jives, not to be confused with gibes. Coincidentally, I had to explain that distinction once to the president of NFHS, which publishes the Fed rule book.

NFHS code requires that the defense makes a proper appeal for an OUT to be called. Some states choose to modify the NFHS rules to their own liking by instituting a State Adoption. This sometimes occurs after NFHS changes a rule and a state decides not to make the change. The Appeal Play and Batters Box Rule comes to mind.

Thanks to you both for the quick answer (and correction of my grammar - believe it or not that's appreciated too).

The automatic appeal has gone the way of the dodo. Runners acquire a base by passing it, even if they don't touch it; a missed base must be appealed by the defense. The umpire ruled incorrectly.

The rule, BTW, is 8-2-5 (with hyphens). Dots are used to refer to the case book.

I think there are a few states that still do not permit any appeals.

What? Really? I've heard of disallowing protests, but not appeals! :eek:

When I played school ball in the 1960s, appeals had to be made with a live ball, as in OBR. (This was in Connecticut. I don't know what code we played under. I think we all assumed it was just "baseball rules.") I remember screwing up an appeal of a runner who had obviously missed 2B. I got the ball on the mound, but as play began ignorantly stepped off and asked for time out, so the ump granted time but of course made no call on the appeal.

I'd say it was more than "a few" years ago. Probably more like 15-20. I actually have FED rule books dating back that far, but they're packed away and not at my fingertips.

I can see a guy getting confused about a rule that was changed a year or two ago. It would kind of boggle my mind if he still thought this was the rule after more than a decade!

Maybe it was just a newer guy that hadn't yet grasped the proper appeal process.

It's not like I'm an expert on the state adoptions of all 50 states, but my recollection is that one (and only?) state that still adheres to the old rule and doesn't require an appeal is South Carolina. I guess that's close enough to Georgia that there might be some bleedover if you're doing a game along the border.

Some did not adopt the "recent" FED change to appeals -- they still have the "old" rule of the umpire declaring a runner out when the umpire sees a baserunning infraction.

One of those states is in the south east -- either one of the Carolinas or Georgia, but I forget which.

In FED the coach can do a verbal appeal. They don't have to go thru all the motions like in OBR. Maybe this was the case.

Could be, but the ball must be dead for that type of appeal. Doesn't sound like it was.

no, it doesn't have to be dead...basically any appeal in FED works. live ball, dead ball, head coach appeal...to my knowledge, they're all good...all but the accidental appeal where the umpire simply calls the runner/BR out.

I started umpiring HS in 1999. It was still the rule then.

A verbal appeal can only be made when the ball is dead. 8-2-6-c.