Under the Lights

You got one part right(see bolded). The runner is not "automatically" entitled to JUST 3B. If, in the judgement of the umpire, the runner would have obtained home had the obstruction not occurred then the runner is entitled to home as well. NFHS rule 8-3-2: "If obstructed runner and all other runners hindered by the obstruction do not reach the bases they otherwise would have reached, award runner or runners such bases"

Yep. It has been. It is actually in the back of the NFHS manual. I'm not going to spell them all out but here we go: 1. Legal Bat 2. Intentional Base on Balls 3. Obstruction(always a delayed dead ball in NFHS) 4. Illegal slide 5. Re-entry of starters 6. Designated Hitter 7. Fielder without ball fakes tag 8. Malicious contact 9. Umpire discipline of coach 10. Team Warnings 11. Defensive conferences 12. Offensive conferences 13. Finishing the game with 8 players 14. Umpire handles live ball 15. Balk 16. Allowable movements in the windup position 17. Missed base or leaving base too soon on caught fly ball 18. Fielder steps into dead ball territory after catch 19. Runner shall slide or avoid contact on a force or tag play 20. Interference on double play attempt If you have specific questions about one of these post it and I will give you the NFHS rule being cited and the MLB rule being cited. Well over half of these have to do with safety or protecting players in some way shape or form.

Agreed. I would say that the VAST majority of the salaries are at closer to the bottom end of your scale, with the averages being around $2500-3000 for assistants and about $8,000 for head coaches. A general rule is the bigger the school(in terms of size) the bigger the pay.

Ok so there is only one reason I can think that this would be the case and I'm not totally sold on this one either. I has nothing to do with rules, think about it logically. Play at first what is going to happen at first base 99% of the time(unless the ball is dropped). The field umpire is making a call. In this case the runner beat the throw so "safe" would be the call. Thus, since the runner is "safe" he has to be tagged or called out upon appeal. That's my best guess........

Actually OBR and FED are the same here. If the kid at home had been thrown out in a "bang-bang" play, then I'd say you'd have to give him home.

Man, you guys are good. I would have thought the ball off the fielders head would have given more trouble than that. CSHS is all over #2. That's exactly why I worded it a "country mile". The runner is only protected to 3B and just because there is interference or obstruction at 2B doesn't give you a "free pass". #3 is probably one of my biggest pet peeves. Cooperstown has obviously done his homework and is correct, that the "Fielder's Balk" is an absolute myth. However, you are not correct(at least in HS, it may be different in MLB) in saying that the fielder MUST have 2 feet in fair territory to be considered. As per NFHS rule 1-2-5: "At the time of the pitch all fielders shall be on fair ground except the catcher who shall be in the catcher's box. A fielder is in fair ground when at least one foot is touching fair ground." So as long as you have one foot in play your good. If 2 feet were out of play, then you don't have the required 8 inside the lines and thus, the ball cannot be put into play. So time would be called and the fielder would be asked to move inside the lines with at least one foot. If he refused to do so, he would be ejected. Play would resume when the fielder had at least 1 foot inside the line.

A few more: 1. A fly ball hit deep to right field along the foul line hits the RF in the head. The ball then bounces off his head(in fair territory) and, in flight, goes over the outfield fence on the foul side of the pole. What is the ruling here? 2. Runner on 2B. BR lines a double into the gap. Runner on 2nd makes slight contact with SS who is moving in and out at 2B when the ball is hit. LF fields ball cleanly and throws the runner from 2nd out at the plate by a country mile. You make the call!! **This is a combination of rules and a judgement call, so no answer will be completely wrong or right. 3. The 1st baseman for Team A is holding a runner on 1st base. He has one foot in fair territory and one foot in foul territory. Upon a pitch being delivered the 1st base coach begins screaming for a fielders balk. You make the call!! BONUS: What would be the ruling if he had 2 feet in foul territory before the pitch.

Well that's what I was trying to say anyways :lol:, I guess it didn't read like that. After looking it up to be sure, that is the correct ruling(since the runner on 1B never actually obtained 2B). You are correct about the option though, and I was thinking of CI. Good scenario.

I'm curious about #5 Cooperstown. My initial thought is that this is an IFF situation, to protect the runners from being put in jeopardy. I would tend to agree with Coach Kinney, but the word "soft" makes me think this is a routine looping ball in the IF so I would go with the IFF. Hard to judge unless you see it. Am I missing something?

Does F3 appeal that the runner missed the bag or just "accidentally" step on the bag? If he appeals I have an out. If not, I've got nothing.

My initial thought was this: Team at bat has the option to take the play IF the batter/runner does not reach 1st base safely. In this case the result of the play is that the batter gets a double, so he does reach(and pass) 1st safely. HOWEVER, the appeal removes this as in the case of the appeal the BR does not reach 1st safely(which would in turn cause the runner on 1st to reach 2nd safely). So I would say that the batting team would have the option to take the result of the play(no runs scored, inning over) or the balk. Assuming we ARE actually trying to win the game, they take the balk scoring 1 run and moving R1 to 2nd base with the batter remaining at the plate.

I'll throw something in there for you to consider........a balk is a live ball situation in MLB(unlike HS and NCAA where it is a dead ball).

I'll wait until tomorrow to give others chances to respond. I think I have the first 5 nailed, but that last one has me thinking though........

To quote the specific NFHS wording: This is a fair ball. The fielder is using artificial means to induce a ball to become foul. As soon as the fielder blew on the ball, it would be judged to be the same as if he had touched it. So, if the ball was on fair ground when he blew on it, the ball is fair; if the ball was over foul ground when he blew on it, it would be foul (2-5-1, 2-16-1).

:thumb: Somehow I knew that you two would be the first to answer.

:thumb:

I'll get it kicked off with a few(remember, these are NFHS rules): 1. With runners on first and second and no outs, the batter bunts a slow roller down the third-base line. The third baseman, seeing that he has no play on any of the runners, starts blowing on the ball from his hands and knees, trying to make the ball go foul. The ball eventually rolls into foul territory where it comes to rest. You make the call! 2. A sharp line drive is hit to the second baseman. The impact of the ball takes the glove off the second baseman's hand, and the glove lands on the ground with the ball still in the pocket of the glove. The second baseman retrieves the glove and takes the ball out of the pocket. Is this a legal catch? You make the call!

For all of you baseball rules enthusiasts I figured I would start a thread of our own about baseball situations. So come one, come all, with your wierd, your quirky, your downright unbelieveable situations. And remember, it had to happen somewhere! :lol:

Yes, it would..........:lol:

RHP Right foot - Toe facing 3B Left foot - Toe facing Home Plate/3B "ish" Weight forward on left foot Left arm - resting on left thigh while leaning forward(possibly also done with glove on left knee) Right arm - dangling at side Do that and you'll either A) be playing twister or B) be in the guerilla stance.

My understanding is that MLB balks the bejesus out of the move(which is actually a balk) at the lower levels. They know exactly what isn't a balk and what is, and get to review tapes to help pinpoint exactly what is. Therefore, the "advantage" of using the stance is significantly reduced. Thus, not many people use the stance. You have the right thought process in the first paragraph. Think about it. What would happen if you were in the normal stretch and you moved your pitching hand toward your glove and then back away? Or if your arm swung towards the bag at 1st while on the rubber? Now you see all of the "grey" area that this stance creates.

As I said, kind of difficult to explain, but I'll try. First you must understand that I(the pitcher) am taking certain "liberties" with my delivery. With both shoulders facing the plate, my arm(and possibly the ball in hand) dangling at my side, and my left leg forward(RHP), not only can I hide the ball(from a runner on 1B), but I can literally use my body and shoulders to hide most of my right arm(as long as my arm is dangling somewhere by my side). Again, you must understand that it was a stance that was being abused and used to gain an advantage. IMO, the stance itself shouldn't be illegal. The problem is that it created some very difficult calls for "less experienced" umpires, that is for the vast majority of umpires. IMO this is along the same lines as the "late swing" on a steal. There is a right way, and a wrong way to do it. But there are very few umpires in between who know the difference. So you make one universal rule that is easy for everyone to follow.

The stance itself isn't the problem. It's the dangling of the arm. Not only does the arm dangling allow the pitcher to "hide" the ball, but it also give the illusion of starting a delivery. It is very difficult to explain, but if I could show it to you then you would understand how an advantage is being gained.

I have yet to see MLB rules on sliding into bases be used in anything lower than an 18U game. The reason usually cited is safety concerns. I think that oversliding the bag is very rarely called, but the MLB slide rule of "if you can reach the bag then the fielder is fair game" I have not seen at that level. Is this the slide rule that you use? My point was with so many "exceptions" (I left quite a few other differences out, DH, roster batting, mound visits) the rules aren't really MLB rules. I hate summer games, as each tournament, team, etc. all wants to play by different rules. It is like shopping "a la carte". :lol: Let's see I'll have a MLB balk rule, the NCAA DH, and HS safety rules. Too bad they don't let us charge out the wazoo like restaurants for "a la carte" shopping. :irked:

Actually, the SWOL rules are more like NFHS (especially below 18) than MLB. Add to that the fact that many of the umpires incorrectly apply, or revert back to HS rules, and the end result is much the same as a HS game. For instance, most SWOL games do not include major rules differences such as: the slide rule(including the wide slide and oversliding), malicious contact, substitution/re-entry, live/dead ball balk, etc. If you need a NFHS rule book I have way too many from years past lying around here that the wife would love to see go. Or you can email Julian Tackett at the KHSAA and I'm sure he'd be happy to help you out.