I set this one up in the “Far out baseball predictions” thread as a joke more than anything, and I forgot one important point which I’ve corrected here (dead ball), but what would happen if this came to pass? It’s set in the 7th game of the World Series just for fun, but it could be any two teams in any game.
Cubs / Red Sox series. Game 7, bottom of the 17th. Both teams have used all their players, no subs are left on the bench. Jason Varitek gets to 2nd with 2 outs. Johnny Damon hits a single to left field. Moises Alou fields it cleanly, making a brilliant throw on the run to Paul Bako who blocks the plate as Varitek rumbles for home. The crowd is screaming at the top of their lungs, history is about to be made, all of America holds it’s collective breath, glued to their TVs as the drama plays out, one of these two teams will finally get off the schneid! Varitek crashes into Bako! It’s a tremendous impact! Bako and Varitek fall to the ground, both knocked unconsious by the force of their collision. The ball squirts from Bako’s glove and bounces to the stands, where it is grabbed by a fan; meanwhile Varitek’s limp body comes to rest mere inches from home plate!
So…what happens next? Have I set up the impossible situation, or is there a solution to this within the rules?
7.05
Each runner including the batter runner may, without liability to be put out, advance … (g) Two bases when, with no spectators on the playing field, a thrown ball goes into the stands, or into a bench (whether or not the ball rebounds into the field), or over or under or through a field fence, or on a slanting part of the screen above the backstop, or remains in the meshes of a wire screen protecting spectators. The ball is dead.
Well, if Bako (God help me) holds on to the ball Varitek is out because the tag is assumed when there’s a violent collision at the plate.
But Bako (God help me) lost the ball. That gives Varitek free reign to score if he can.
BUT the runner must be capable of advancing. Generally if a player is injured on the basepaths it’s just too damn bad for his team and he’s out.
BUT the fan interfered with the ball in play. That generally gives the player the right to …
Well, well…
According to rule 3.16 it’s the umpires decision. He may, at his discretion, place the runners where he believes they would have ended up had the fan not interfered.
So God help the umpire whichever way he calls it. The home plate umpire alone will determine whether Varitek scores or we go to the 18th inning.
OK, so let’s say the umpire decides Varitek would never have made it to the plate without the fan interference and calls him out (cold!), ending the inning.
Now after the two players are carried away, who takes the field in the 18th? Do the Sox play with eight, does a 68 year old first base coach find a glove and take left field (he’s wearing a uniform, after all), or do the Sox grab some guy out of the bleachers?
3.03
…A player once removed from a game shall not re enter that game. 4.17
A game shall be forfeited to the opposing team when a team is unable or refuses to place nine players on the field.
Based on these, it sounds like a Boston forfeit.
But Chicago is down to 8 players too. Suppose Bako is due up first in the top of the 18th? Even if he’s not, they’d still be playing with 8 men, which would manifest itself as a problem in the bottom of the inning, when Boston would get their fair ups.
I think you would have a tie there. The rule is pretty clear that, if at any time a team cannot take the field with a full complement of players that team forfeits the game and the score is recorded as (I think) 9-0.
Here’s the relevant rule:
Note that Rule 4.15 also lists ‘failure to take the field’ as reason for forfeiture.
I honestly don’t know what would happen there. I think it would mean that the Red Sox forfeit (and civil unrest breaks out) because the Cubs batter doesn’t have to check in until after the Red Sox take the field (and since they can’t they forfeit). But that’s a nit-picky rules interpretation.
It’s very true that no one other than the 25 players on the active roster may participate in the game at hand. No one from the coaching staff to the stands may take the field.
Gee, thanks, Dave. You can just rock me to sleep tonight.
My reading of the rules is that 5.10 takes precedence; the run scores.
There are always silly circumstances you can dream up that the rules do not specifically address. In this case, as a carded umpire, I would have to in all fairness have a Red Sox player touch home plate to complete the play and end the game.
Since baseball has no time limit, only if Varitek is actually DEAD is there no chance he can’t touch home plate. If he’s just unconscious you can always just provide him first aid on the spot, wait for thim to wake up, and then have him crawl over and touch the plate. There is no limit on how long you could wait for Varitek to wake up. the Sox could delay the issue for days, weeks even. The Red Sox therefore have a solution. The Cubs don’t; the ball went out of play so they’re screwed, IMHO.
Jonathan, 3.16 deals with spectator interference. The OP simply had the ball bouncing into the stands, not interfered with. However, as an umpire, I’d probably cite 3.16 as part of my rationale for scoring Varitek; it brushes against the scenario, anyway.
No, while the Red Sox could wait for Varitek to wake up they couldn’t wait more than a few minutes. I think at that point the ‘delaying the game’ forfeiture rule would come into play.
Here’s 4.15:
I mean, the umpire could use the ‘unavoidable’ bit in section ‘a’ to allow the Red Sox sufficient time. But outside of that a delay of significant length would lead to forfeiture by the Red Sox. And no medical attention would be available to Varitek because that would count as stopping play and therefore Varitek would be out for not being on a base (and therefore could be tagged…unconscious…when the umpire calls time back in).
Though the umpire does have the option of permitting a substitute runner in event of ‘accident’ if that prevents the running from reaching a base to which he is entitled.
When a player hits a homerun, you often see that home crowd run out on the field, mobbing the runner. Does he actually touch home plate? Sometimes I bet not.
In practical terms, the scenario we’re discussing I believe the umpire will first make a motion the crowd will intrepret as meaning the game has been won, at which point whether the runner can advance or not, or perhaps secretly carried to the plate, the game is over.
Granted that we don’t have anyone left on the bench, would it be possible to swap two players currently in the game to provide a pinch runner? Under Joule’s posted rule 5.10, that would seem to be enough to give Varitek the run, if that works.
Of course, I know little of the minutuae of baseball rules (it’s just throwing and catching and hitting and running), so take this question with several cubic meters of salt.
No, players, once placed in the line-up, cannot be moved to another part of the line-up. Anyone attempting to do so would be counted as out when they batted.