Slide/No Slide

[dash_riprock]

Originally Posted by BigBlu

I agree that his action altered the play, but he is not required to slide and he was within the baseline, so why is that considered illegally altering the play. My understanding was that a runner had to intentionally interfere with a throw for their to be interference.

If the runner executes a legal slide, he can legally contact the fielder and/or alter the fielder's actions. If he does not slide legally (either by sliding illegally or by not sliding at all), any contact or altering of the play is illegal. The wording is poor, but that's what it means. Intent is irrelevant. The runner is interfering with a fielder, not with a thrown ball.