Sliding Question

[mbyron]

The primary principle of sliding is: a slide is never required by rule, but if a runner slides, it must be legal. No rule prohibits "taking out" a fielder just as such: we have INT for a "take out" only when the slide or contact is otherwise illegal.

A fielder with the ball trying for a tag and a double play is protected from interference, but has no "special" protection: we are not absolved from judging whether the contact was legal by the fact that there's a double play at stake. There's no "automatic" interference here on that account.

The slide described is legal, even though it has no chance of reaching the base. As I said, the runner might simply have been avoiding the tag. I see nothing in the description that violates the slide or FPSR rules. If the contact is legal, then we play on.