What's the call and rule reference (ASA)

[chapmaja]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

Wait... you said, "The ball pops out. I kill the play and call the runner out for the contact."

Then you said you didn't have MC.

So why did you call the runner out, and why did you kill the play. If you don't have MC, you have a runner that's safe at home.

There's something I'm obviously not following here.

The reason is simple. I, in my opinion think there is a distinction in the rules between MC and running into a fielder with the ball, causing a collision which knocks the ball out. To me MC means you intentionally do something to create the contact outside of the normal playing action of the game, such as lower a shoulder into the fielder, raising an elbow into the runner, or something else designed to create additional (and potentially dangerous contact) between a runner and a fielder. In this case the runner was running in from 3rd, but just kept running with no attempt to avoid the contact with a fielder clearly in possession of the ball well before the runner arrived.

The way I read the rule does not say you only can kill the play if you rule the contact to be MC. You can only ejected the player if you deem the contact to be MC.

Think of it this way. A runner running in who intentionally swipes the arm down across a fielders glove to dislodge the ball. Would you rule that MC? I would say most people would say no, but the out would be called right.