I am a major league baseball player. It is in the late innings of a game my team is winning handily and until now I have had a nice day at the plate: a single, a triple and a home run.
I am at bat, bases are empty, one out. It’s the top of the 9th and I am a double away from hitting the cycle.
I wind up hitting the ball over the fence for a home run but while a two-homer day is good, I never hit for the cycle before and I kinda want to.
So while rounding the bases, I stop at second base and explain that I would only like a double.
Can I do this?
What happens next if I refuse to leave second base? I know that a home run doesn’t count as a home run unless the player touches them all and there have been cases where a player was mobbed and was unable to touch them all with a walk-off shot (I think the Mets in a playoff game a few years back) so if they can tell someone who presumably wanted to touch them all that his hit over the fence was not a home run, why can’t I make the choice myself?
Because you’re a freaking employee, that’s why! If I was your manager, you’d be benched for the rest of the season for a stunt like that. In fact, you’d be pulled from the base that second.
Staying at second doesn’t violate Rule 6.09d, but it does violate your contract with the ball club that pays your salary.
Rule 10.06 (d) “When the batter, after making a safe hit, is called out for having failed to touch a base, the last base the batter reached safely shall determine if the official scorer shall credit him with a one-base hit, a two-base hit or a three-base hit.”
They discussed this exact scenario on Baseball Tonight the other night. They said that if he failed to touch third and was tagged out, it would score a double, as **Frank **and OldGuy said.
Remember the softball player who hit a home run, hurt her knee at first base and couldn’t continue? Her first home run was going to be ruled a single (until the other team carried her around the bases.) The runner has a right to home, but IMHO, not the obligation.
My expectation in this situation is that the runner would stop at second and after a few moments of frantic yelling by his coaches, the ump would wander over to find out what was going on. Once informed, play would resume with the next batter.
“If an accident to a runner is such as to prevent him from proceeding to a base to which he is entitled, as on a home run hit out of the playing field, or an award of one or more bases, a substitute runner shall be permitted to complete the play.”
I doubt the player would be punished. Laughed at maybe, but not punished by managment.
Remember, pro sports is showbiz first and foremost.
The OP posits the team is well ahead. the lack the one run isn’t critical. We also don’t know whether he ends up batted in later in the inning.
Teams love news coverage, as long as its not really bad. This stunt would be the talk of the talk shows for the week.
And every time old “half-homer” came to the plate for the rest of the season, the color commentator would have to (get to?) say something about it. The player would end up with some nickname, probably better than the one I just made up.
I recognize that Major League Baseball is much less tolerant of showboat shenanigans than the NFL is, but that doesn’t mean zero tolerance.
Some towns & clubs are more traditionalist than others. Especially in the newer teams in younger cities I’d expect this to go over well, seen as an ironic joke. Diamondbacks fans might love it; Yankees fans, not so much.
I believe that this exact scenario happened to Mark Teixeira this year. Usually on a well-hit ball, teammates yell “get up!” to will the ball over the wall. Instead, the Yankees all yelled “get down!” so that the ball wouldn’t clear the fence. But alas, it was a homer and Teixeira touched all the bases. Of course, a homer improves his MVP chances anyway. I can’t imagine a professional player ever giving up a homer in lieu of a double. More homers = more money when contract time comes around again.
There’s also a good chance the player might take a fastball to the head the next time the two teams faced each other. Teams don’t take too kindly to being shown up with stunts like this.
The same scenario could also be used to someone who is about to set some kind of record for doubles. Earl Webb may not be as cool a name as Babe Ruth but he has held that record since 1931 so that’s got to count for something!
When I posited the question, I was assuming the player’s management/teammates wouldn’t have a huge problem with the stunt although my guess is baseball purists would decry it and it could even lead to a rule change if enough people worried about it impacting the “integrity of the game” (which I actually think it would compromise somewhat) - although this already got moved once so maybe I should try not to steer it towards IMHO?
The player could not be tagged out, as the ball is no longer in play. The other team would have to formally appeal at third in accordance with the rules of appeal plays.
