Look Back Rule

[Manny A]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

Well... if the runner is halfway, then she had better have been moving one way or another before F1 started this slight movement of the ball... and assuming she was - and still was when the pitcher raises the ball, then of course you wouldn't rule her out.

That said, let me be contrary in saying that I DO believe there's a difference between a player on base and not on base ... here's why. Two reasons...

1) The reason "a play" releases the runner from the requirements of the LBR (however briefly) is that it forces a runner between bases to make a decision based on that play --- do I continue, or is this play going to require me to return the other way. The runner already on base is not forced to make a decision as they are already on the base. That small action taken by the pitcher is not going to require the runner to react.

2) This movement by the pitcher, with a runner standing on a base, is not the prelude to some other action. There's no reason for the runner to fear the ball being thrown to first, or to react to it. But given a runner OFF the base, this movement by the pitcher IS (most likely) the prelude to some other action designed to get that runner out... and that, after all, is what a "play" is, isn't it?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but are you saying a pitcher can't really make a "play" on a runner who is on the base?

If that's the case, I respectfully disagree. I don't see anything in the definition of play, with respect to the LBR, that says the runner has to be off the base. It just says it's an action by the pitcher that causes a reaction by the runner. The reaction could be preventing the runner from leaving the base in the first place, couldn't it?