Is this enough for the tag to be doubled off of first?

[Guest Mike A]

Runner at 1st less than 2 out. Fly ball to LC, runner thinks it may drop but CF makes catch and throws to 1st to try to double off the runner. The ball beats the runner but the throw pulls the 1B off the bag. While the throw is high and 1B is unable to tag the base or the runner, the 1B does make contact with the sliding runner prior to getting back to the bag. Does this count as an out? Not tag of the base or the runner with the glove and ball, just body contact while in possession of the ball. 

[BDad]

I'm most familiar with Little League rules, but I'm guessing it's similar in other rule sets. Rule 2.00: "A tag is the action of a fielder in touching a base with the body while holding the ball securely and firmly in the hand or glove; or touching a runner with the ball or with the hand or glove holding the ball, while holding the ball securely and firmly in the hand or glove." So in your situation, just body contact is not a tag. If the first baseman cannot tag the base, then he must tag the runner with the ball or the glove holding the ball before the runner gets back to the base.

[maven]

9 hours ago, Guest Mike A said:

Does this count as an out? Not tag of the base or the runner with the glove and ball, just body contact while in possession of the ball. 

No, that's not a tag.

[SH0102]

On an out that can occur by touching the base (batter at first, force out anywhere, failed to tag up), the person must have possession of the ball and touch the base with any part of his body or glove while in possession of the ball (think about F3 with only foot/toe on base).  You can touch the base with an empty glove if the ball is controlled in your other hand .

For an out by tag of the batter/runner, the ball must be part of the tag, in the hand or glove making the tag.  Back in my day as a catcher, we were taught to tag runner sliding home with empty glove with ball in hand just outside glove so as not to have it get knocked out (fast motion, difficult to see).  In this day of replay, that would be a big ol’ safe at home 

[Senor Azul]

Back in my day as a catcher, we were taught to tag runner sliding home with empty glove with ball in hand just outside glove so as not to have it get knocked out (fast motion, difficult to see).  In this day of replay, that would be a big ol’ safe at home 

If you were not holding the ball against the glove when your tag was applied then it would not have been a legal putout. But if you were pressing the ball to the mitt (even on the backside of the mitt) then you would have had a legal tag. At least that is my understanding of what the Jaksa/Roder manual and the MiLBUM wrote about what constitutes a legal tag…

From the Jaksa/Roder manual (2017 edition, p. 29) with their definition of tag.

A tag occurs when the ball is live and a fielder has the ball in his hand or glove (or both) and…a runner is touched by any part of the glove/ball, hand/ball, or glove/hand/ball combination (excepting that if dangling laces alone touch the base or runner, it is not a tag).

From the 2021 Minor League Baseball Umpire Manual (section 10.8, p. 159):

The Official Baseball Rule further defines a “tag” as touching a runner with the ball, or with his hand or glove holding the ball (not including hanging laces alone), while holding the ball securely and firmly in his hand or glove (or in his bare hand pressed against his glove)…

It does not go on to differentiate between the ball being pressed against the glove on the inside of the glove or on the outside of the glove.