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| Dennis (Hosanna)
July 22, 2008
1:12:04 PM
Entry #: 2840296
| Just because, I thought I'd bring up this topic for your (possible) edification.
Everyone hopefully knows that on caught fly balls, runners need to remain in contact with their bases until the ball is first touched by a fielder. And if they left early, then they need to tag up.
What people usually do NOT know is that the runner is not actually forced back to their base, so this is not a force play. In actuality, it is an appeal play. The runner may advance without tagging up but is subject to being called out if the defense properly appeals the leaving early.
When the ball is live, the defense does this by holding the ball on the base in question and appealing to the umpire. This is true of other appeals (such as missed bases) with one significant differenceit is usually obvious to the umpire what is being appealed, so it is sufficient to simply hold the ball on the base. No other indication that there is an appeal is required. This makes it look just like a force play, but it is not.
For the vast majority of plays, this difference is trivial. But there are circumstances where it is important. For example, with runners at 1B and 3B, on a fly ball with 1 out, you can expect R1 to go part way toward 2B while R3 tags. Once the ball is touched, R3 runs home to score while R1 tries to get back. If R3 scores before R1 is successfully appealed at 1B, does the run score?
If the appeal was a force out, then no, the run does not score (no run can score if the 3rd out is a force out). But this is an appeal play, which happens to be a timing play. This means that if the runner gets home before the appeal, then the run scores.
If you knew this, then good for you! If you didn't, then now you do!
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