Left Early on a Caught Fly

[UmpJM]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

We can't let this die, even though we agree on the main sticky point, huh?

I thought the FED rule said NEXT base ... meaning if he was between 2nd and 3rd when the ball goes out of play, he can return to first as long as he doesn't touch THIRD.

Mike,

Sorry. I couldn't resist.

This is another one of those kind of "tricky" rules things that is somewhat counterintuitive and a lot of people (including umpires) are confused about.

What you suggest is true for OBR rules, but is NOT true for FED rules.

Under OBR rules, the runner only loses his opportunity to correct his infraction if he touches a base beyond his position at the time the ball went out of play.

Under FED rules, if he is a "base beyond" his retouch or missed base at the time the ball goes out of play, he has lost the opportunity to correct his infraction. Unless the umpire judges that the fielder intentionally threw the ball out of play to prevent him from returning to correct his infraction. (No, I an not making this up.)

FED 8-2-6d1.

JM

[MD Longhorn]

If I ever worked FED baseball, I'd have to come over here and study hard first. I only work baseball when softball runs out of steam, and all the summer ball here is OBR-based.

[Eastshire]

Originally Posted by UmpJM (nee CoachJM)

FED 8-2-6d1.

JM

They are so certain about it they put it in twice!

[johnnyg08]

So let me ask this:

I guarantee you hardly any if any at all FED coaches in my area would know this intricate piece of the rule for an appeal. So, from a mechanics standpoint, let's say the team is executing the proper appeal and R1 who passed 2B, retreats back to 1B, and beats the throw back to 1B.

How do we call this from a mechanics standpoint? Do we simply call R1 out because even though he's retreating back to 1B to retouch and gets back before the throw, he can't do so because he's already advanced past 2b?

[Eastshire]

Originally Posted by johnnyg08

So let me ask this:

I guarantee you hardly any if any at all FED coaches in my area would know this intricate piece of the rule for an appeal. So, from a mechanics standpoint, let's say the team is executing the proper appeal and R1 who passed 2B, retreats back to 1B, and beats the throw back to 1B.

How do we call this from a mechanics standpoint? Do we simply call R1 out because even though he's retreating back to 1B to retouch and gets back before the throw, he can't do so because he's already advanced past 2b?

Yes. Even if he tries to retreat to 1B to correct his error, his error is uncorrectable and he is out upon a proper appeal.

If you really wanted to tweak the nose of the coach, call him out for running the bases in reverse to confuse the opponents.