# Baseball: running into the catcher

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-running-into-the-catcher/541807>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [June 3, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-running-into-the-catcher/541807 "2010-06-03T18:11:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-running-into-the-catcher/541807/21 "2010-06-04T15:23:36Z")

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> [@Xema](#):
>
> Clearly a clean play by the runner. There are, of course, [other ways](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFIcpn7NOw0) of handling this.

HOLY SHIT!

I normally despise baseball but that was one of the sickest sports clips I’ve ever seen. WOW. Major kudos to that player.

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**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-running-into-the-catcher/541807/22 "2010-06-07T20:16:57Z")

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> [@RickJay](#):
>
> While this call would be technically correct if the runner had subsequently been tagged out, the runner reached home safely, so obstruction shouldn’t have been invoked. It’s a conditional call.

You’re right RickJay. It’s obstruction. The conditional call is a delayed dead ball which means the official doesn’t rule on it unless he has to. The fielder was in the base PATH without the ball, the runner has the right to that path in this case.

Unrelated additional info: The base LINE is the virtual straight line connecting the bases, the base PATH is set by the runner by his location on a straight line to the base he’s going to. i.e. a runner is out when avoiding a tag by 3 feet outside of his base path, not the base line. This distinction is why it’s OK to round bases and not run directly from base to base.

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**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-running-into-the-catcher/541807/23 "2010-06-07T21:09:01Z")

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> [@muldoonthief](#):
>
> Saying you play every single game as if winning that game is the most important thing imaginable without regards to outside circumstances just isn’t true at the pro level.

That’s not quite what I said, either. (It shouldn’t be true at the collegiate level either.) I didn’t mean that context is or should be ignored.

Playing a September callup doesn’t conflict with what I’m talking about (I’m sure he’ll be playing hard). Not running out a grounder does. See the difference?

And if hitting the catcher is necessary to score a run, I’d expect the runner to do it, whether runner or catcher are September callups or not.

> [@cmosdes](#):
>
> Would you run over a 10 year old who was obstructing your path to win a family BBQ softball game?

Of course I wouldn’t run over a kid. :rolleyes:

The ethics and integrity of competition are only relevant to discussions about contests between fairly-matched opponents. That’s sort of a general principle in sports; if opponents are clearly nonequivalent, you don’t _have_ a “competition,” so none of this thread would apply.

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