OBR 7.13; 2015: 6.01(i)

[JHSump]

For those of you doing amateur baseball based on OBR, have you had 7.13 (now 6.01(i)) come into play? What is your assessment of the effect of this in your amateur OBR-based games? Note that the 2015 rule is different from the 2014 rule, in some respects. Furthermore there are MC rules and "slide or avoid" rules in most amateur OBR-extensions.

I had this come up at a very recent travel ball tournament (OBR with extensions). A manager asked me between innings if the rule should have warranted my calling his R3 safe on an attempted squeeze. No, I said, since R3 was not obstructed. The ball arrived before R3. R3 was tagged on the hands during a head-first slide reaching toward the plate between the widely spread legs of F2, and F2 was just in front of the plate. The manager was not satisfied with my explanation, saying they had had this called on them. But he walked away, saying "look it up". I ignored that last remark.

The 2014 rule is at http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/y2014/official_baseball_rules.pdf

The 2015 rule is at http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/y2015/official_baseball_rules.pdf

[Rich Ives]

He probably did have it called somewhere.

Did the runner alter his approach before the ball arrived - if so it might be OBS.

LL has (perhaps other so) a no head first slide rule. OTOH hurdling is legal in LL but banned in some other places.

No one has a "slide or avoid" rule. Many do have "slide or attempt to avoid" rules. Significant difference. (The LL one is "slide or attempt to go around".)

[JHSump]

The runner did not appear to me to alter his approach in any way before the ball arrived. He game in straight, sliding head first.

There is no rule disallowing head first slides in this organization (Nations Baseball). The only slide rules are "If a runner slides, he or she must slide directly into the bag" and "Runners are never required to slide, but if a runner elects to slide, the slide must be legal."

Yes, it's "slide or *seek* to avoid contact," of course. The full rule is "If a tag play is imminent, the runner should slide or seek to avoid contact. Jumping over a player is not considered avoiding contact." I was just giving the rule a "title" --- an inaccurate title at that. My apologies. Thanks for making the record correct, @Rich Ives.

And, it did sound to me like he had it called somewhere before. Anyway, my original question still stands for anyone who has had other experiences.