Dropped Third Strike?

[mrm21711]

At a recent game, with runner on first and two outs, a third strike was swung at but the ball was in the dirt. The plate umpire, making a mistake that he realized the second he yelled it out, loudly yelled out first base is occupied, batter is out very loudly a few times. The defensive team left the field and the plate umpire told the offensive coach he blew this one, which probably saved him a protest. The question is, what should be done in this situation? The catcher picked up the ball and threw it to first anyway, but the throw was off the bag and there was no tag. Should this be ignored and live with his erronious call? What do you guys think?

[Warren Willson]

Originally posted by mrm21711
At a recent game, with runner on first and two outs, a third strike was swung at but the ball was in the dirt. The plate umpire, making a mistake that he realized the second he yelled it out, loudly yelled out first base is occupied, batter is out very loudly a few times. The defensive team left the field and the plate umpire told the offensive coach he blew this one, which probably saved him a protest. The question is, what should be done in this situation? The catcher picked up the ball and threw it to first anyway, but the throw was off the bag and there was no tag. Should this be ignored and live with his erronious call? What do you guys think?

Good question, Mrm21711!

[Thinking "out loud" switch = on]

In the case of an uncorrectable umpire error, play should be normally resumed from the point at which the umpire made his erroneous call, and any subsequent play should be cancelled. That's what would happen if the umpire erroneously declared the half inning over with only two outs. The precedent for that is in JEA under OBR 1.01, wherein Evans describes the course to be taken when an umpire erroneously puts the ball in play with less than 9 defensive players on the field.

The problem is that equitably resuming play is easier said than done in this case. The defense has an argument that the batter may well have been out absent the erroneous call, and the offense might equally argue that the defense didn't make the out before leaving the diamond. You can't even order a do over with the same pitch count, because you can't then instruct the pitcher to "bounce" the subsequent pitch in order to produce the identical dropped K2.

If the offensive coach had been "switched on", he should have sent his batter quietly to 1st base because the defense did not make the 3rd out before leaving the diamond. He might then have legitimately requested the resumption of play, as there were only two outs. As you said, the umpire corrected his erroneous call in the dugout.

There is an argument that this could be treated the same as umpire interference with the catcher's throw - see OBR 5.09(b). If the batter-runner is retired, no problem. If not then the runners return. But this was a play on the batter-runner, so what should be done with him? Normally he would be awarded 1st base on umpire's interference with a batted ball. That would only add insult to injury for the defense. You can't return him to bat with the new pitch count because that has the batter on 3 strikes! It's certainly an interesting problem.

[Thinking "out loud" switch = off]

I vote for letting sleeping dogs lie.

1. If the defense makes the out after the bad call, the batter-runner is out. Half inning over.

2. If the batter-runner acquires first base anyway, before the defense attempts to tag the runner or the base, let the play stand with 2 outs and the B-R on first. Half inning resumed.

3. If the batter-runner leaves the diamond along with the defensive infield, before or after acquiring 1st base, tell the scorer's he's out for either desertion or abandonment of the base path (respectively), and move on to a new half inning.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

[mrm21711]

great post warren, thanks!

[Lonewolf986]

Im sorry for this remedial question, but can you answer this please...?

When you say "Batter is out, first is occupied" on a Dropped third strike. What is the meaning of "occupied."

Does the runner on first have to be occupying 2nd by the time the ball is dropped? what "determines" the "occupied"

I know im making this harder than it is, but any help would be appreciated.

John

[GarthB]

It was the last legally occupied base by a runner at the time of pitch

[Warren Willson]

Originally posted by Lonewolf986
Im sorry for this remedial question, but can you answer this please...?

When you say "Batter is out, first is occupied" on a Dropped third strike. What is the meaning of "occupied."

Does the runner on first have to be occupying 2nd by the time the ball is dropped? what "determines" the "occupied"

I know im making this harder than it is, but any help would be appreciated.

John

Hey, Lonewolf986, the only dumb question is the one you always wanted to ask but didn't! *grin* I'll give a tad more background than Garth, but that's me!

Your answer comes from OBR 7.01, which says:

A runner acquires the right to an unoccupied base when the runner touches it before being put out. The runner is then entitled to it until put out, or forced to vacate it for another runner legally entitled to that base.

So you see that even if a runner is NOT physically touching a base that he has previously acquired, he is still legally occupying that base until

1. he is put out, or
2. he is forced to advance, or
3. he legally acquires another base (no runner can legally occupy two bases)

You need that background to make sense of OBR 6.05(c) and OBR 6.09(b) the latter of which says (in part):

The batter becomes a runner when -
(b)The third strike called by the umpire is not caught, providing;
1. first base is unoccupied, or
2. first base is occupied with two out;

Bottom Line: If the base was the last base legally acquired by a runner at the commencement of the subject play, then that base was legally occupied unless

1. the batter subsequently became a runner and so forced the occupant to vacate the base for another runner legally entitled to it, or
2. the runner somehow legally acquired a new base BEFORE the pitch was delivered to the batter

OBR 6.05(c) says the the batter is OUT when he does NOT become a runner on such plays.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

[Lonewolf986]

Yes indeed it does.

Thanks again.