By
Steve Kallas (posted by Rick Morris)
EDITOR’S
NOTE: MLB
has since clarified the rules on this matter. Steve’s column does an excellent job of
explaining why that was necessary.
Good
grief! What has baseball done to
baseball? Once upon a time, with less
than two outs, a runner on first and a ground ball to third (for example), the
fielder threw to the second baseman covering and, once he caught the ball, the
runner was ruled out. Once in a while,
when the second baseman caught the ball and then lost it while bringing it to
his right hand to throw to first, the runner would still be out because the out
was made when the ball was caught. Of
course, if the second baseman did not catch the ball cleanly, the runner would
correctly be called safe.
The
rule was not that the ball had to be caught and then successfully transferred
to the bare hand to get the force at second.
Until
now.
It’s
beyond stupid. Thursday night,
Yankees-Red Sox, top of the second, Brett Gardner on first. Brian Roberts hits a ground ball to Brock
Holt at third. Holt fields the ball and
throws it to Dustin Pedroia at second.
Pedroia catches the ball cleanly while stepping on the base – an out in
the last, oh, I don’t know, forever?
But
on this play, Pedroia, obviously thinking about trying to get a double play,
loses the ball after catching it, clearly while trying to transfer the ball
from his glove hand to his throwing hand.
Gardner is called safe at
second and would eventually score a key run early in the game (which eventually
ended in an easy 14-5 Yankee win).
HOW
COULD BASEBALL MEN COME UP WITH THIS RULE?
Well,
apparently, the “rationale” is to take the judgment out of the umpires’
hands. To get the out, you just don’t
have to catch the ball while standing on second. You now have to catch the ball and, if you
decide to try for the double play, you have to then have a “clean” transfer to
your throwing hand. If you bobble or
drop it on the transfer, there is no out.
Hard
to believe, no?
Once
you’ve changed the definition of an out (that is, from catching the ball cleanly
while standing on the base to catching the ball cleanly while standing on the
base and then transferring it cleanly), you’ve changed the game of baseball.
Presumably
now (hopefully this change will be eliminated today or tomorrow, not at the end
of the regular season or not until next season), the answer to this
hypothetical also changes. Runner on
third, less than two out, ground ball to short.
The shortstop checks the runner and throws to first.
But
the runner takes off for home. The first
baseman catches the ball cleanly with his foot on first base but then tries to
transfer the ball to his throwing hand to throw out the runner at home. He bobbles or drops the ball on the transfer.
It
says here that, under this new rule (or different interpretation, depending on
your point of view), the runner at first has to be called safe.
Just
another absurdity in today’s game.
And
maybe, sometime soon, we will see a challenge on this type of play: runner on first, less than two out, ground
ball to third. The third baseman throws
to second, it’s an incredibly close play.
The second baseman catches it cleanly and makes the transfer cleanly and
throws to first.
Won’t
a creative, intelligent manager (Joe Maddon, for example), at some point, come
out and argue that, in the split second between the time the second baseman
caught the ball and the time he transferred it to his throwing hand, the runner
was safe, rather than out. That is, the
out is not now made when the second baseman catches the ball, but, rather, when
he completes the transfer. So, at least
arguably, the runner could be safe in that split second.
Certainly
not out of the realm of possibility.
As
sometimes happens, what a mess baseball has made out of trying to fix something
that wasn’t broken. Hard to believe.
WILL
THIS MAKE MIDDLE INFIELDERS SLOW DOWN AND EVEN NOT ATTEMPT A
THROW TO FIRST?
The
answer is maybe. If Pedroia decided not
to throw to first (i.e., not transfer) then Gardner would have definitely
been called out. But because he decided
to make the attempt (i.e., the transfer), he lost a sure out, one that was
already made at second.
So,
if this rule remains, middle infielders might have to think (as opposed to just
making the play). That is, if I catch
the ball cleanly and, on the transfer, bobble or drop it, not only don’t I get
two outs on the play, I don’t even get one out.
That’s
a tough pill to swallow (and to make matters worse, Pedroia gets an error after
what looked like an obvious out at second (and, yes, this is being written by a
lifelong Yankee fan)).
THE
FIX IS EASY
While
it’s always hard for the powers-that-be in baseball to admit that they’ve made
a big mistake, they should come out and change the rule back to the way it was
immediately. Umpires can judge the
transfer pretty easily (as they have in the past) and, if they make a mistake,
the manager of the team who “loses” on the call can challenge it.
If
anything, “instant” replay (whatever you think of it) will help umpires with
the “old” (last year and before) transfer rule.
Just
return the rule to what it used to be.
Immediately,
if not sooner.
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