Wow, that was one of the funniest things I’ve seen on a major league baseball field. I also can’t figure out why he would have had to go back to the batter’s box other than to make the whole play that much more hilarious.
I thought I sort of understood this game, I mean the basics at least. Mostly.
So it was a home run, and with the bases loaded, that makes it a grand slam (right?), but the officials mistakenly thought the ball didn’t go out of bounds, but on appeal they checked the video and agreed it did…
Why did they make everyone physically run round again? Couldn’t they just say that’s what would have happened and award the points?
Even when a player hits a home run, they still must run the bases and touch each in turn, as do all of the baserunners. In addition, the batter and baserunners must remain ‘in order’ while they round the bases; any player passing the runner in front of him will result on one of the runners (I can’t recall which one offhand) being declared out.
Now, normally if the ball is hit over the fence, this isn’t much of a problem. In this case, since the umpires originally ruled it a live ball, things got a bit more complicated. Specifically, the batter, after he was ruled out, left the basepath (because he was headed to the dugout). Normally, this would result in him being called out…but of course he had already been called out, so they couldn’t really punish him in this case…
…all of which still doesn’t explain why they made the batter go back to home plate and make a phantom swing…
…but it seems the umpires wanted to ensure that all of the runners advanced around the bases in the proscribed fashion.
I don’t know if this is covered in the official rules (though it wouldn’t surprise me), but I love it if only for the batter’s body language when he’s standing back on first: “what, you want me to go back to the plate and ‘swing’ again?..Ummm…sure…OK..whatever you say, Blue”
I believe the umpires only required that Morse go back to first and run from there, since that was the last base he had touched. However, Morse figured as long as he had a do-over, he might as well have a full do-over.
I get that there was the possibility, had the umpires called the home run correctly in the first instance, of players running the bases out of order, BUT: the officials having corrected their mistake and (presumably) negated the immediate consequences of that, is there really any need to make everyone re-set to their original positions and physically trot round the bases rather than just taking it as read, so to speak?
I don’t see why he has to go back to first, either.
At the time the play ended you had players on second and third. One player had scored, and Morse was tagged “out” at first. If the out had counted, you’d have players on second and third. If you eliminate the “out” at first, Morse is at first.
The players might have passed each other, but after Morse’s out, I would assume time was called. If they hadn’t passed each other before then (and they hadn’t), it wouldn’t have mattered if they passed each other once time was called, since the game wasn’t being played.
The umpires were clearly confused, but the play should have continued with the runners where they were when Morse was tagged. Sending him to the plate was not required, but it’s been a long season and I guess the umps got confused.
It started in the middle of the 2008 season, and it’s only used for disputed calls regarding whether a ball was a home run or not. (Eg. whether a fly that went out of the park was fair or foul, or whether one that bounced back into the field of play hit the wall or something beyond it.) They don’t use it for reviewing balls and strikes, or questions about tags or force outs, etc.