Obscure Rule

[alanjbarnett]

I have a interesting rule question. There is a runner on 1st and 3rd, one out. The runners are off with the pitch, and the batter hits a line drive which is caught by the second baseman diving towards center field. The 2nd baseman throws to 1st to double off the runner going to second, but before the first baseman catches the ball, the runner from 3rd crosses the plate. Will the home plate umpire allow that run to score until the fielding team appeals the play? As I understand the rule, if the batter hit a fly ball in the same situation, the fielding team would be forced to appeal.

So the real question is, when will an umpire simply make the call, and when will they require the team to appeal a play.

Thanks in advance.

[Forest Ump]

Nothing obscure here. This is simply a time play. The defense made an appeal when they threw to first. The third out was not a force out. Remember I said time play earlier. Therefore the run scores because it occured before the out. The umpire will indicate at the end of playing action that one run scores.

BTW, A line drive caught and a fly ball caught are exactly the same as any caught ball.

[maven]

Forest is correct. When the defense attempts to "double off" a runner, that IS an appeal play. An appeal play is a time play: if the run scores before the out occurs, then it counts.

The rule reference (pro rules) is 4.09.

[dash_riprock]

Originally Posted by maven

An appeal play is a time play.

In this case it is, but not always.

[maven]

Originally Posted by dash_riprock

In this case it is, but not always.

If you had posted the OP, I would have added the word 'retouch' to be perfectly correct.

But then, you wouldn't have posted the OP.

[Rich Ives]

I think the original question was will R3 be allowed to score unless there is an appeal at 3B for R3's failure to retouch.

The answer is yes.

An appeal is required.

The umpire cannot just make the call - ever.

[rbmartin]

Originally Posted by maven

when the defense attempts to "double off" a runner, that is an appeal play.

+1