Althouse: "Now, rule 7.08(i) forbids running the bases in reverse for the purpose of confusing the defense or... 'making a travesty of the game'...."

April 21, 2013

"Now, rule 7.08(i) forbids running the bases in reverse for the purpose of confusing the defense or... 'making a travesty of the game'...."

"But it does not forbid doing so out of confusion, and in fact a comment to the rule states that a runner who goes backwards because he was 'decoyed' is not out under this rule."

Did you see what happened in Milwaukee on Friday night? Something very strange....

11 comments:

rhhardin said...: It's allowed as long as all the runners follow geodesics in space-time.; 4/21/13, 7:08 AM
Aridog said...: Lou Costello was right after all.; 4/21/13, 7:19 AM
kentuckyliz said...: The two tags on second are null because he was still on the bag. The commentator doesn't think so.; 4/21/13, 7:21 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: You spend enough time watching songbirds at a feed station and it all comes together.; 4/21/13, 7:23 AM
AllenS said...: It makes sense, except when it doesn't.; 4/21/13, 7:28 AM
Tank said...: What does Tiger think?; 4/21/13, 8:02 AM
Tank said...: What does Tiger think?; 4/21/13, 8:02 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I saw that.. it was a different kind of amusement.

Incidentally, rule 7.08(i) and its particular prohibition on "making a travesty of the game" exists more or less as the direct result of one of my favorite remembered-from-childhood bits of baseball trivia: the career of Herman "Germany" Schaefer of the Detroit Tigers. Schaefer was a notorious showman, who pulled any number of stunts on the field. Among those is the feat of stealing second base from first, followed by stealing first base from second, which he is known to have done once -- in 1911 -- and alleged to have done another time in 1908, both times followed by attempts to steal second base again.

The lead runner made it safely back to first because first base was left uncovered, defenseless.
The closest available defender, in that case would have been the catcher. But he appeared to have turned himself into an spectator.

First I thought the pitcher would have been responsible, but the pitcher would have been expected to aid in the between second and third rundown. So, in this albeit unexpected, or difficult to predict case, the expectation for who should be covering first should go to a backup, in this case, the catcher.; 4/21/13, 8:03 AM
ndspinelli said...: Braun was lamenting that he got a caught stealing when he did nothing wrong. Bush league comment!; 4/21/13, 9:08 AM
Original Mike said...: I did see that. Pretty incredible.

The umpire did screw up. Segura was tagged when he was on base, but he was also tagged a second time, right after he left the base and started back toward first. This was remarked upon several times by the TV announcers and shown several times in reply. Yet it was ignored by the umpire, and by the Cubs. I think everybody was a little confused.

Still, it was fun to watch in real-time. A "What just happened?" moment.; 4/21/13, 4:57 PM
Original Mike said...: I did see that. Pretty incredible.

The umpire did screw up. Segura was tagged when he was on base, but he was also tagged a second time, right after he left the base and started back toward first. This was remarked upon several times by the TV announcers and shown several times in reply. Yet it was ignored by the umpire, and by the Cubs. I think everybody was a little confused.

Still, it was fun to watch in real-time. A "What just happened?" moment.; 4/21/13, 4:57 PM