# Baseball: If the Home-Run Hitter Can't Make It Around the Bases **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 29, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-if-the-home-run-hitter-cant-make-it-around-the-bases/409974 "2007-06-29T21:27:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-if-the-home-run-hitter-cant-make-it-around-the-bases/409974/21 "2007-07-03T00:21:21Z")
[QUOTE=JSexton] I’m having trouble understanding why this matters. If you knock it out of the park, you score, right? Nothing the opposing team does can stop that? So…why do you have to touch the bases? [/QUOTE] I think you have it the wrong way around. The rules define a run, or score, as follows: > [@](#): > > A RUN (or SCORE) is the score made by an offensive player who advances from batter to runner and touches first, second, third and home bases in that order. So, by definition, scoring involves touching all the bases in order. Hitting the ball out of the park does not officially score a run. It simply allows the batter to advance around the bases without being thrown or tagged out. And the rules specifically state that the run isn’t scored until all bases have been touched: > [@](#): > > A fair ball passes over a fence or into the stands at a distance from home base of 250 feet or more. Such hit entitles the batter to a home run **when he shall have touched all bases legally**. Bolding mine. This is why, after someone hits a homer, you see the umpire following him around the bases to make sure that he touches each bag. It’s different, for example, in cricket, where hitting the ball over the fence on the full scores six runs. Those runs are automatically added, and the batter does not have to run up and down the pitch six times in order to score the runs. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Socks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a8b319/32.png) [@Captain\_Socks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Socks)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-if-the-home-run-hitter-cant-make-it-around-the-bases/409974/22 "2007-07-03T12:26:30Z")
My dad, who used to be an umpire, says that even though the ball is over the fence, he still has to touch all the bases or he’s out. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-if-the-home-run-hitter-cant-make-it-around-the-bases/409974/23 "2007-07-03T14:26:45Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Socks] My dad, who used to be an umpire, says that even though the ball is over the fence, he still has to touch all the bases or he’s out. [/QUOTE] Does the batter have the option of staying at, say, second base, and just taking the double … or would the batter still be out? Ridiculous, of course … just wondering what the letter of baseball law would say about that. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-if-the-home-run-hitter-cant-make-it-around-the-bases/409974/24 "2007-07-03T16:46:10Z")
He might get busted for “making a mockery of the game” or however that rule is written. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-if-the-home-run-hitter-cant-make-it-around-the-bases/409974/25 "2007-07-03T17:10:58Z")
A batter refusing to complete the circuit of the bases after a home run could be ejected by an umpire and a substitute runner put in for him or, even worse, under rule 4.15, could end up having the game forfeited for “Refuses to continue play during a game unless the game has been suspended or terminated by the umpire;” or “After warning by the umpire, willfully and persistently violates any rules of the game;” Rule 4.09(b) has a provision that in a bases-loaded situation, if a runner on third is forced home with what would be the winning run because of a walk of hit batter, and refuses to touch home, the umpire can call the runner out and order the game continued. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-if-the-home-run-hitter-cant-make-it-around-the-bases/409974/26 "2007-07-03T17:46:57Z")
[QUOTE=BobT] Rule 4.09(b) has a provision that in a bases-loaded situation, if a runner on third is forced home with what would be the winning run because of a walk of hit batter, and refuses to touch home, the umpire can call the runner out and order the game continued. [/QUOTE] It’s interesting that this situation is addressed specifically. The implication is that this had been tried in baseball’s distant past … if that is indeed the case, I wonder why? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2007, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-if-the-home-run-hitter-cant-make-it-around-the-bases/409974/27 "2007-07-04T05:35:34Z")
If you were playing the first game of a doubleheader and you knew the nightcap could be rained out or not played because of darkness, you could just have a guy refuse to go home to keep the next game from starting. Or the guy could keep crawling home. The rule is also in place for other innings, presumably to avoid stalling. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2007, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-if-the-home-run-hitter-cant-make-it-around-the-bases/409974/28 "2007-07-04T05:40:09Z")
[QUOTE=cmkeller] EJs Girl: You might be thinking of Chris Chambliss’s home run that won the 1976 ALCS for the Yankees. Yankee fans swarmed over the field, and later that night, after the crowd had dispersed, Billy Martin had some of the umpires from the game come out to the field and witness Chambliss touching all four bases again, just so he can’t later be challenged on that point. [/QUOTE] Did this really happen? Is there some rationale for this rule? Why don’t they just say “If you hit the ball out of the stadium, then your team is awarded a run for the batter and for every member standing on base, and those team members must now leave the field?” -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2007, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-if-the-home-run-hitter-cant-make-it-around-the-bases/409974/29 "2007-07-04T05:41:17Z")
[QUOTE=bordelond] It’s interesting that this situation is addressed specifically. The implication is that this had been tried in baseball’s distant past … if that is indeed the case, I wonder why? [/QUOTE] I guess a player (or his team) might want to freeze the game for some reason? -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2007, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-if-the-home-run-hitter-cant-make-it-around-the-bases/409974/30 "2007-07-04T05:47:12Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] Did this really happen? Is there some rationale for this rule? Why don’t they just say “If you hit the ball out of the stadium, then your team is awarded a run for the batter and for every member standing on base, and those team members must now leave the field?” -FrL- [/QUOTE] That was the case in 1976 and after that, the rule was changed to allow any automatic runs to count if spectators on the field prevented the players from making the circuit of the bases at the end of the game. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2007, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-if-the-home-run-hitter-cant-make-it-around-the-bases/409974/31 "2007-07-05T18:35:15Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] I guess a player (or his team) might want to freeze the game for some reason? -FrL- [/QUOTE] Sure they might- especially if they had money riding on a game, or were closely associated with people who did. Point spread betting is nothing new, and baseball had a bit of trouble with that in the past… ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-if-the-home-run-hitter-cant-make-it-around-the-bases/409974/32 "2007-07-06T00:08:00Z")
[QUOTE=EJsGirl] Sure they might- especially if they had money riding on a game, or were closely associated with people who did. Point spread betting is nothing new, and baseball had a bit of trouble with that in the past… [/QUOTE] I was just thinking they might want to freeze the game if they were losing. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2007, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-if-the-home-run-hitter-cant-make-it-around-the-bases/409974/33 "2007-07-06T00:58:18Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] I was just thinking they might want to freeze the game if they were losing. -FrL- [/QUOTE] What possible reason could they have for doing that, apart from some sort of illegal betting racket? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-if-the-home-run-hitter-cant-make-it-around-the-bases/409974.md?page=1)