This folder is reserved for definitions, section 2.00 of Official Baseball Rules: What defines a strike? An Infield Fly? Interference? Obstruction? If you're looking for a simple definition of something, ask it in here.

More in-depth discussions on something will be found in the other folders.

Post away!

TV shows a graphic of the batter's previous at-bats like "F8" (flied out to center) and "K" (duh). One of these notations is "3u." What's that mean?

Sorry, Fever. This one I can't answer. My baseball intelligence doesn't include all the little idiosyncracies of scoring terms. If it doesn't have anything to do with umpiring, I'm less inclined to know, or even care about, it. Not that your question doesn't deserve an answer, of course.

Perhaps if someone else here can chime in with their answer.

Feverdog,
3u stands for 3 unassisted, which would be a first baseman fielding a ground ball and taking it to the bag himself for an unassisted play.
The U is there, because if you just put "3" down, that would signify a pop-up, and not a ground ball.
Hope this helps.

Josh

Oh, of course. I knew that. I was just checking if anyone else did...

You're not the only one who "knew" this, Fever. I figured as much about what "u" meant. Dumbass me wasn't paying much attention to the 3, which a 2-year-old could figure out.

Josh must've been a scorekeeper in his previous life.

Hi Ump,

Could you please explain what constitutes a balk? There seems to be so many different variations of a way pitchers can balk.

[ June 15, 2003, 06:06 PM: Message edited by: Billinjc ]

Bill,

To be honest with you, there is no easy or brief way to explain what a balk is. A balk in a sense can be defined as the pitcher illegally deceiving a runner. Notice I use the word "illegally." This is because a pitcher IS allowed to deceive a runner. He just has to do it legally.

More than just an attempt to illegally deceive a runner, a balk is also a result of other rule-mandated occurrences.

For example: When a pitcher throws an illegal pitch with a runner(s) on, it's ruled a balk automatically. Was this illegally deceiving a runner? Probably not, but it's still a balk.

Perhaps it is best to think of a balk as a certain illegal act by the pitcher that results in runners on base being awarded one base without liability to be put out.

Keep in mind, of course, that a balk canNOT occur without a runner(s) on base.

The rule book specifies just over a dozen different types of balks. However, there are more that aren't necessarily mentioned directly but can still be called.

Ump,

Since there isn't a chapter in the rule book for "the fielder" so i figure my question closely represents definition of terms.

I think it was game 3 of the LDS between Milwaukee and Philadelpha---Mark Wegner was umpiring the right field line. A fly ball hit to the wall---Brewers right fielder goes to the wall...jumps..makes a clean catch...slams into the wall and then when he hits the ground, the ball pops out. Wegner rules no catch and the Phillies batter ends up with a double. From my knowledge of catch/no-catch rules, that is the correct call.

So fast forward to a few minutes ago in the Angels/Red Sox game. Angels with a runner on third with 1 out in the top of the 9th. A suicide squeeze is on. The batter misses and Varitek chases the runner all the way back to third base. He dives towards the runner, applies the tag and falls down in one motion. When he hit the ground, the ball pops out. In this case though, Tim Welke calls the runner out.

How does the situations differ? Why do you need to cleanly take the ball out of your glove on a catch, but not on a tag? Are these situations spelled out in the rule book. I can't recall reading in the book that there is a distinction.

If you have a chance to qualify the two different situations, that would be great!

Thanks
Josh

Josh,

I hope you don't mind my chiming in before our resident Ump does. I do so because I recall rules guru and former MLB Umpire Jim Evans talking about tag plays. IIRC, he said that in order for a tag to be valid, the fielder must fully possess the ball "immediately" before, during, and "after" the actual contact of ball or ball/mitt to runner or base. I believe this means that if he tags a runner and the ball subsequently falls out, then the tag is not legal and the runner is therefore not out. I was watching the game tonight and saw the same play you're referencing. I don't know if it was a question of timing, but IMHO, I don't think the tag should have been sustained.

But who knows, right?

I would like to know the six ways a batter can reach 1st base safely without getting a hit. (At least I remember there being six from little league. )

I know 2, the rest I forgot.

1. Walk
2. HBP
3. Error
4. Fielder's choice
5. Dropped third strike
6. Automatic ball four? (like when the pitcher goes to his mouth before the pitch).

I think you got it, automatic ball four is the one I couldnt remember but I thought it had something to do with the catcher.

I could swear this question was asked and answered in one of these threads some time back. You'd have to search for it, and I don't have a great deal of luck when I search for things on this board. But I would think that "automatic ball four" scenario would count as any other walk.

It does count as just a walk... catcher's interference would be the other way.

My question is what would obstruction count as... like say is the pitcher or the first baseman was ruled to have obstructed the runner (batter) on his way to first?

If a batter reaches on catcher's obstruction, it's definitely charged as an error on the catcher.

I'm not too sure if a batter reaches on obstruction by anyone else though. I don't think that they are charged with an error. It might go down as a fielder's choice type of an at bat.

josh

This is true... for some reason I was stupid and thinking of another one of my favorite baseball questions - naming the four ways one can reach first without the ball being put in play.

You gentlemen seemed to have answered this sufficiently. It's not a "Definition of Terms" question, per se; therefore, I am not going to elaborate on it any further.

I have been rather busy lately; hence my reticence the last few months. Feel free to continue with more "normal" questions, though.

It appears this question got lost in the foray. As a Red Sox fan, I'd be very interested in your response.

Not having been right there to make that call, I'll be honest and state that the two situations are not, in fact, that different. Jim Evans has an excellent explanation of how a tag of a runner with the ball or ball-in-mitt is very similar to a catch. On a tag, moreover, a fielder must show possession of a ball immediately before, during, and after a tag is applied. Of course, the term "immediate" does not have a clearcut definition and is admittedly subjective. However, when a fielder applies a tag to either a runner or base, we need to see that he had possession and control of the ball while he is making the tag and that if he loses the ball that he does so voluntarily. Theoretically, if one makes the tag and loses the ball involuntarily but "long after" the tag had been applied, an argument could probably be made that he did, in fact, "tag" the runner as required.

Without trying to start an argument, I don't think I would have made the same call as Tim did based on your explanation of it.

Interesting response and your honesty is appreciated. I think last month or the month before referee magazine (not sure if you get that or not) had a whole article devoted to this play. The interpretors of this article actually supported Tim's call based on pro rules (but indicated that NCAA and NFHS have different angles on that play).
Personally, I don't care what happened to the sox/angels game, but I always want to make sure I make the right call on the field, and to me that play can be very common at an amateur level. Since I work in leagues where sometimes it's governed by pro and other times by NFHS, I want to make sure I'll make the correct call and then explain it to an arguing coach.
In this case, I don't feel like I'd be able to direct the coach to a specific rule to support a call I make, and that's where I'm most frustrated.

Josh

I'm familiar with the article to which you refer in Referee Magazine. The article seems to portray a play that may be slightly different from your explanation of it. I have had discussions with people who believe that Tim's call was a bit premature, while I've heard people who say it was correct. I'm quite familiar with Official Baseball Rules' explanation of a tag and the official interpretations surrounding when a tag is no longer a tag, and it's difficult for me to really comment on this further considering I wasn't "right there" to see what really transpired and make the call in real time.

I'd recommend that you acquire Jim Evans's excellent explanation of how to determine a catch or tag with respect to the ball being dropped or voluntarily released.

Ump,

Thanks for your answer on the other appeal situation I asked this morning. Here is one that happened in my game tonight. So---if you can comment that would be great.

Bottom of the 5th inning, bases loaded and nobody out. Batter hits a mile high pop up right over the plate. The catcher is under it in foul territory waiting to make the catch. Now let me digress for a moment-----

At our beginning of the year clinic, our assignor made a big deal about umpires yelling the "infield fly batter's out IF FAIR" call on the field. I disagreed with him and told him in front of 200 people at the clinic that I didn't think that was the proper mechanic. He said that it's changing and that umpires are being discouraged from saying that because it can be confusing since the word fair is never verbalized on the field. Ultimately though he said that saying "if fair" isn't mechanically wrong so it was OK by him if i still used that verbage during one of my games...

Back to my game tonight. As the ball is in the air, I thought of my assignor and figured WTF let's give his way a shot. So I said nothing. Then to my horror the ball falls in fair territory. However, the ball bounces high up and it's headed foul, so I figure still OK. but then when it bounces up, it hits the f**king catcher who's still standing in fair territory.
So I'm assuming that since the ball was fair by virtue of bouncing into the catcher, that even though I didn't call infield fly, the rules dictate that if the play by rule would have been an infield fly, then the provisions of the rule still stand.
The runners start running so now they are at risk to be put out, which because the defense threw the ball all over the field, no one was out, except of course the runner that they thought was forced out at the plate.

When the play finally ended, I realized what a mess this was, but I still think I ended up OK. I allowed the runner who was forced out to actually score, since he did touch the plate and was never tagged and it wasn't a force. Then I called the batter out. I made this ruling in front of both coaches who were completely fine with it. (some ass**** assistant though and the catcher and the catcher's ass**** father weren't thrilled but they got to think about that in the parking lot when the play was over [and scarier, it's not the first time I've tossed 3 people on the same play]).

So, I probably could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I would have not listened to my assignor. That being said, at what point is it too late to call infield fly---if I didn't go with the "if fair" verbage? Could I have called it once the ball bounced into the catcher as a fair ball? Or would that been worse?

Any advice you could give to make this situation better would be appreciated.

Thanks
josh

Josh,



Forget what your assignor said. He's full of shit. There's a reason that mechanic is still employed, especially at the nonprofessional level. It's to avoid the type of situation that occurred in your game.



Whether Infield Fly is called or not, when it's an obvious Infield Fly situation, its ruling must be applied. This is done to protect the offense from a possible double play. It is always better to call it than to not call it at all.



In your situation, the call of "Infield Fly if Fair" should be made when the ball reaches its peak, if possible. Then just wait until the ball "officially" becomes fair or foul. If the latter, say because it hit someone in foul territory, then just call the foul ball. If the former, you continue with, "Infield Fly, batter is out." That would happen the moment the ball is ruled fair, probably because it touched a fielder in fair territory.