# A question about the rules of baseball **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 19, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-rules-of-baseball/493643 "2009-04-19T18:39:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-rules-of-baseball/493643/121 "2009-04-24T22:02:37Z")
> [@Obeseus](#): > > Yes, I included that to show the inconsistency of your thinking. Nobody has any illusions here as to inconsistency. If I may offer some very honest and humbly intended advice, meant purely constructively, you aren’t going to have a really good time on the SDMB if you are dismissive of people who - like everyone in this thread - is trying to engage in a friendly debate over a friendly topic. The debates here tend to be very fast and assume that people will support their claims and pay close attention, and so sometimes people can get a little more frustrated than they need to be, but there’s no reason to be condescending. Nobody here is being inconsistent or stupid in disagreeing with you.\* We’re going by what the rulebook says.\* It’s not entirely clear, hence the debate, but there is a perfectly good case to be argued that you are not correct. Maybe that case is right and maybe it is not, but it’s not a matter of anyone getting “chances” with you. If the RULEBOOK is inconsistent, that is not anyone’s fault. ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-rules-of-baseball/493643/122 "2009-04-24T22:08:01Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > We’re going by what the rulebook says.\* It’s not entirely clear, hence the debate. That is what you and I are doing. Others are imagining things. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-rules-of-baseball/493643/123 "2009-04-24T22:50:20Z")
> [@Obeseus](#): > > No, but I used to be [15] My bad. I wrote that before I realized you edited the 1876 version of the rules of baseball. > [@](#): > > No. The runner still must touch the plate (unless there are 2-outs & 2-strikes, in which case the batter strikes out to end the inning.) As always, I invite you to show me where in the rule it says that. It says, to me, if the runner is hit in the strike zone in a certain strike/out combination, the ball is dead and the run scores. Maybe that says he needs to touch the plate to you, but not to me. It is inconsistent with 4.09a which has he has to safely reach home. But it says what it says. I am just arguing what it says without attaching a judgment to it. > [@](#): > > When a pitched ball hits a runner, the ball is dead. If the ball also hits the batter, it is not a hitbatsman, because the ball is dead the instant the ball hit the runner. If 2 outs, 2 strikes, and pitch was in the strike zone, the batter has struck out, and the inning ends with no run scoring. this is not the scenario under discussion. In our scenario, runner beats the pitch to the plate (perhaps sliding under it) and catcher handles it cleanly for a called strike 3. Every other situation you propose alters a core part of the scenario by rule or definition. > [@](#): > > Yes, I included that to show the inconsistency of your thinking. I’m am showing you the importance of the third strike ending the inning. Look over the four examples and see the correlation. OK, I will look, but only if you promise to refute my claim matching the scenario to the rules as written and show me the specific words that I misinterpreted for that scenario. That was about 50 posts ago I think 🙂 If you take on this task, please do not resort to scenarios that alter the specific reliance on the rules. Discuss the scenario as is, and the rules as they are. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-rules-of-baseball/493643.md?page=6)