Last night I was at a minor league baseball game, and one crazy at bat left me a few questions about interference on the basepaths.
With the bases empty, the batter hit a grounder to the shortstop. The throw to first was offline, and the first baseman stepped off the bag try to to catch it. The ball got past the first baseman and flew into foul territory.
The first baseman turned toward the foul line to get the ball, and the batter turned toward second, and the two of them smacked squarely into each other. After stopping each other’s progress for a moment, they each moved around each other and continued on their way.
The batter rounded second (despite the third base coach signalling furiously for him to hold up), and headed for third.
The batter slid into third as the third baseman lunged for the throw. The third baseman landed squarely on top of the batter’s back, with the two players forming an X across each other. Despite his efforts, the third baseman missed the ball, and it bounced into foul territority.
At this point, the batter could have run home if the third baseman wasn’t pinning him down. Several times the batter tried to lift himself and throw the third baseman off his back, and the third baseman agressively kept himself atop the batter to keep him from running. The defense retrieved the ball before the batter could get free, and play stopped.
The basepath ump, initially let the play stand. The hitting team’s manager protested to the umps. After the umps had a private chat for several moments out of earshot of everyone, they ruled that the play would stand, with the batter on third, much to the dismay of the crowd. It was unclear what the basis for their ruling was.
With that setup, I have a few questions:
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In the situation at first base, could there have been either offensive or defensive interference when the players ran into each other? Would it have been different if one or the other had been knocked down, or otherwise seriously interfered with?
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In the situation at third, was it legal for the third baseman to intentionally pin the batter down to prevent him from advancing (if he was indeed intentionally pinning the batter)? What if the pinning was inadvertent? What if the umpire just didn’t see what was going on?
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If the third baseman had been ruled as interfering with the baserunner, what would be the result? Would the batter have been awarded home and the run?
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As the play stood, there was an error recorded (I presume the missed throw to first). If the second missed throw to third had allowed the runner to go home (assuming no interference issue), would there have been two errors recorded, or just one? If the batter were awarded home due to interference, would there be an error recorded?
Thanks.