Jay R.

It depends on your rule set, potentially both the base rule set and local modifications, particularly regarding the use of the safety base. On replay, it seems to me the runner runs legally in the running lane, then exits with one step before touching the base, for the purpose of avoiding the fielder who is set up on the orange safety base. Given the dropped third strike, the fielder's position is legal in all major sets I'm aware of that authorize the safety base, but I have had a local league say that even on U3K the fielder had to use the white bag. So I don't think you'd have obstruction, unless your local league/tournament has a specific rule preventing him from taking that position. With the benefit of replay, I think the runner's actions are all legal, regardless of situation. He runs in the lane, then exits in the last step or two to go the base. (Unless your local safety base rules require him to use the orange bag regardless of U3K.) Even if I don't have replay and I think he's mostly out of the baseline, I don't think I would call the runner out here, given that he's clearly avoiding a collision and there's a lack of a good throw. NFHS rules and interpretations matter; NFHS wants all potential runner's interference called as soon as there's a throw. My state doesn't use the safety base yet at the high school level, so I can't say with confidence how they want this situation called. (Clearly this is below high school level but if it's Fed rules and an NFHS umpire, he may be going with that interpretation.)

At least one of the local leagues I work with has it in writing that the batter is out if the same batter does it multiple times in a game. They do not, however, say in the rules sheet whether it's interference and immediate dead ball, or whether the result of the batted ball should otherwise stand.

Talk to the league about what rule and mechanics they have in place. I am unaware of any major rules code having support for calling a batter out for unintentionally throwing the bat. Little League and NFHS both choose to eject (or have the coach remove) the offender. It is, however, a popular local rule. I am yet to see even written versions of this rule specify when the batter should be called out. I think the most common application (and what I do when leagues want me to call offenders out) is to treat it as a form of interference, on the grounds that it prevents the catcher from fully participating in the play. All interference is an immediate dead ball, the offender is out, and no runners may advance.

I had my first playoff assignments this year, and in two regular-season games with a three-man crew (to prep for playoffs) and two playoff games, I was U3 all four times. I think I had the hang of it by the end. I agree with @DevildogUmp that I wouldn't want to be the plate while learning the system. Otherwise, I'm mostly glad that I was in the same spot twice in one week to learn it, and have the same for the first playoff game. I think I could've done equally well as U1 or U3 in the fourth game.

My guess is this a confusion from Babe Ruth's Cal Ripken Division "Special Base Running Rule," which mirrors Little League (Majors and below). From the Babe Ruth/Ripken rulebook: "Rule: When a pitcher is in contact with the pitcher’s plate and in possession of the ball and the catcher is in the catcher’s box ready to receive delivery of the ball, base runners shall not leave their bases until the ball has been delivered and has reached home plate. Once the catcher has secured the ball and the runner has stopped his forward progress, the runner must immediately return to the base. NOTE: The ball remains live [emphasis added] and should the catcher make an errant throw to the pitcher or make a play on the runner, the runner can then attempt to advance." I would not be surprised if coaches and parents thought that time was called at the end of every play. They seemed to think so in the LL chapter I umpired in from 2013 to 2019. LL teaches its umpires not to call timeout unnecessarily, to force kids to learn to make the throw to the pitcher while also checking runners. Presumably the emphasis in Babe Ruth is the same (I've never worked in their leagues, so don't know what the national organization or any chapter is teaching the umpires). However, there does not seem to be a Babe Ruth rule prohibiting outfielders from asking for time, or requiring that the ball be in the infield or held by an infielder (a fairly common standard for ending play in the coach-pitch youth leagues I've coached in). As @JonnyCat noted, if there's only one umpire, he may need to call time to reposition at the end of a play.

Obstruction enforcement is very different, but not complex. I otherwise agree with @eddieq.

As somebody who does both baseball and softball: Get ready to learn new sets of rules. I dipped a toe into rec softball after moving next to a park, and didn't realize how much I didn't know until I got high school certified for both baseball and softball last year. (I had done LL baseball pretty heavily for about seven years, and learned major differences in baseball codes.) Obstruction, for one, is penalized very differently. OTOH learning LL baseball mechanics tends to help with softball.

One of my summer-ball associations, the Chartiers Valley Umpires Association south of Pittsburgh, has been slowly building up its social media presence over the last couple years. One of the officers (who's also active in my high school chapter) has been wearing a cam for rec and travel games and posting clips (both general "sights and sounds" and rules questions) to Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter for almost a year. The goal isn't so much as to be a generic "influencer" as it is for recruitment. It's been pretty effective at finding people; our high school chapter added several people this year and this spring five teens and young adults have contacted the CVUA about starting to umpire. https://www.facebook.com/cvua412 https://x.com/cvua412 https://www.youtube.com/@cvua412

Need more information to discuss your play; namely, who did the coach think was obstructing the runner, and what action obstructed the runner? I can see a couple possible scenarios that might be obstruction even if the runner is running in fair territory: 1. A weak hit to the right side of the infield causes multiple fielders to head that way. If, say, F2 fields the ball, F3 covers first, and F1 peels away from the catcher but into BR's path, you could have obstruction before the throw. There's a classic MLB obstruction call (can't find the video) where both F1 and F3 tried to field a slow roller up the line and obstruction was called because they both couldn't be the protected fielder. IIRC the runner was in fair territory. 2. If F3 set up in a way to block access to the bag, such as straddling the ball while awaiting the throw from the catcher, I could see an obstruction call if the runner actually slowed down to avoid trucking him.

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association told baseball umpires not to tolerate it. First instance, team warning; subsequent ejection.

If this is a high school game, this is probably grounds for a protest. The only way it's interference (and thus an out) is if the bat prevents the catcher from participating in the play, which doesn't sound like the case here. Alternatively, if this is a rec league that uses NFHS rules, there could be a local modification that thrown bats are outs. As @BigBlue4u hinted at, this is only a problem at lower levels, which means only Little League has a consistent method of dealing with this. Warn, then give the opportunity for the coach to remove the player, then eject if necessary. If the same player did it twice egregiousy in a high school game, I would consider ejecting or restricting to the bench, but I don't think there's any grounds for an out as described.

No play, but I did have it happen in a game last year. I was PU, rotated to second and then third, saw it was going to be a stand-up triple and glanced home in time to see my partner busting back and yelling, "I'm here, Jay!" After the game we both bemoaned the fact that he stopped at third.

In the OP, I have the runner out for running the bases out of order (after the clarification after the Segura play).

Are they providing: -- a uniform (or elements of one, or discount with a uniform and gear supplier)? -- insurance (or discount for participation in a group plan)? -- NASO membership? My HS chapter doesn't, but our fees aren't outlandish ($50ish to the state, $25ish to the local chapter). We get a rulebook and chapter fees pay for Arbiter and a few other small things. I have been in orgs that provide shirts and caps as well as insurance discounts.

Alan Porter just gave a very slow call on the Betts error in the top of the 8th, in a play very similar to the one described here. I wonder if there was vocalization.

What about this is unclear?

Link or source? I'm interested.

Thanks all @Velho: No coach at first base at the time---leadoff batter, offensive dugout was on the other side, no one had gotten there yet. Re @MadMax's comments: -- Your points about the competitive level are noted. -- My partner is, in fact, an officer in my NFHS chapter---not sure if he's an evaluator per se but, as this is my first year in NFHS, he was watching me on the plate to form an opinion. @beerguy55: Genuinely asking: What would your mechanics be on the initial play? In both my current chapter and previous work in a different state, I've been taught to go with either a no call if the ball is clearly away, or perhaps a slow safe to acknowledge the attempt (which, as I said, don't think would've helped the runner here---if he doesn't see the ball bounce away from F3, I don't think he's going to see U1, set up between 1B and 2B, make a safe call. I guess I also tend to default to what I was coached, coached my kids when they played, and hear coached around me: If you're not sure what happened, stay on the base and let the umpire tell you you're out (or foul ball, or whatever). To one of Max's points: I see how it happened but I think the rulebook and tradition puts some onus on the runners (and the offensive team, including coaches and dugout) to be aware of what's going on. If he turns around and says, "They got me, right?" I have no problem saying, "No, he dropped it, you're safe." (And if my timing is off or I otherwise do something that might actively confuse them, I have no problem calling time and proactively saying something---I did that on a dropped double-play ball this spring where I brought up a fist before F6 caught it, much less turned it.) But on anything where a ball bounces out of reach of a fielder, I feel like offering a call and a reason can be aiding the offense.

I am rather surprised that the responses are clamoring for a safe call at first. I thought that would be less controversial (no ball no call; everyone watching the play saw what happened). At any age level, the most I'm giving this is a slow, obvious safe sign with no vocalization, and I'm not sure that would have helped the runner here. Yelling "safe" and pointing to a ball 10+ feet away from the base seems to be aiding the players (contra a case where the ball is trapped and not picked up cleanly by the first baseman, but stays near where he touched it). I have seen much closer plays no-called by high-level umpires. Would you yell "Safe" and point to the fence if the ball got past the first baseman? If not, what do you do? If nothing, why do something here? (Asking honestly.) I also don't like the idea of calling it, and haven't, but this seems to be a case where it would be warranted. From the rulebook comment: "Any runner after reaching first base who leaves the base path heading for his dugout or his position believing that there is no further play, may be declared out if the umpire judges the act of the runner to be considered abandoning his efforts to run the bases."

Over-35 men's league, using modified OBR. I'm on the plate with a partner on the bases. No outs and no one on. Batter grounds to F5, who deliberately skips the ball across the infield to keep it out of the sun. F3 scoops, but the ball hits his glove and pops high in the air away from him. Batter-runner touches first as he runs through. Base umpire makes no signal or audible call (understandably, in my opinion; it's obvious that the ball was never caught). Batter circles back, touches first again, and continues toward home (presumably heading for his dugout on the third base side). The defense starts pointing at him and calling about him being off the base, while the offensive dugout starts yelling that he was safe. Around the 45-foot mark, the batter realizes that he was safe and turns around. The ball is fielded back to the first baseman, who tags him while he is returning to the base. My partner calls him out at that point. Questions that arose from this play (my answers in parentheses): -- Was my partner right to not make a call? (Yes) -- Assuming that the umpire was right not to make a call, at what point do you call abandonment? One potential complicating factor is that this league has pretty liberal courtesy runner rules; my partner's initial thought was that the runner was leaving for a CR. (I was getting ready to call it when the runner turned around. "Any runner is out when: (2) After touching first base, he leaves the base path, obviously abandoning his effort to touch the next base.") -- Is there any scenario in which the tag would not have sufficed for an out call? The runner (politely) argued that he never made a move toward second. (No. If it's not abandonment, by retouching first he had become a normal runner, and is subject to being tagged out.) -- Could the defense have appealed by tagging the base instead of tagging the runner? (No; he had legally returned to the base and now has to be tagged if he's off the base.) Happy to hear any other thoughts that come to mind, too.

I actually don't hate this. Time limits mess with the game in weird ways (notably by reverting to last completed inning if you hit a drop-dead time) and this seems like a reasonable way out of it. Also, it allows a team that's up big in a non-mercy situation to end it.

In MLB and youth rule codes that modify the MLB's rule set, it's Official Baseball Rule 5.06(b)(3)(C): Note that the rule says "any out-of-play area" and makes no distinction of a fair or foul ball. Same ruling in effect in all codes. If you know the base rule set being used for your game (eg, Little League, high school, or NCAA) someone can get you the rule number if you're curious.

I agree with the above on most levels of baseball. I think in Little League this becomes a much closer play, depending on whether you judge that the runner attempted to go around the catcher, and whether the catcher was "waiting" to make the tag. As described my first reaction is that I would call the runner out but not eject, though I can see it going either way. I don't think Babe Ruth has any similar language, scanning their rulebook. If there's a local rule that puts the onus on the runner to "avoid contact" on tag plays, even if it's badly thought out, this is probably an out.

The replay officials

What year is this in the rulebook? It's not in the 2025, 2022, or 2021 editions---the only one-base awards in 5.06(b)(4) are for a pitched ball out of play, or for ball four lodging somewhere. There's also no such language in 5.06(b)(3) (advancing runners other than the batter). Or is this an interp somewhere?