I was recently asked the following question:
One out, R2 on 2nd. R1 on 1st. The batter-runner (BR) hits a home run. While rounding the bases, R2 stops before touching home plate (in anticipation of a celebration of some kind). R1 then touches home plate before R2 does. R2 follows and the BR finishes his home run trot and touches home plate.
The opposing manager contests the order in which Players R1 and R2 crossed the plate, although no formal appeal process is followed. What is the correct ruling in this case?
Definitely an unusual situation. You have to love Little League, don’t you? Part of the confusion here is that the word “appeal” is used in two very different senses in the rulebook.
So, as the play starts, the BR hits a home run. Thus, under 7.05(a), the BR, R1, and R2 each may advance to home without liability to be put out. (A home run is an award.) The “without liability to be put out,” however, is conditional on the bases being run properly.
Now, during the process of the runners advancing on their award, R1 passes R2. (It doesn’t matter exactly where this happens.) Thus, at that moment, per 7.08(h), R1 is out. This does not, however, affect the fact that the BR and R2 have been awarded home. Thus, the correct ruling would have been to score the runs for R2 and the BR, and put the second out (R1’s) on the board.
Now, if there had been two outs at the time of the home run, things would have been different, since the out on R1 would create the third out. Rule 4.09(a) stipulates that a run is scored providing that that runner crosses the plate before the third out is made. (There are exceptions, but they do not apply here.) R1 is out at the instant he/she passes R2. In the situation as described, R2 had not crossed the plate when R1 passed him/her, this means that the third out occurred before any of the runs crosses the plate, which means no runs score. (Ouch!)
This is not a classic appeal play, in the sense of the defense needing to tag a runner or a base, etc. That type of appeal is reserved for missed bases, or failure to properly retouch a base following a caught fly ball. In other words, there is no “on appeal” in 7.08(h). The umpire, if he/she sees one runner pass another, should rule the out immediately. Play is allowed to proceed however – this does not create a dead ball. (Granted, in this situation the ball was already dead due to the home run, but I figured I’d toss that in.)
Now, given that the defensive manager has seen the infraction and realizes that the umpire has not declared R1 out, it is within the manager’s rights to call this to the umpire’s attention under 9.02(b). This rule uses the terminology “appeal to the umpire.” In this case, “appeal” simply means to call the issue to the umpire’s attention.
Whether or not a runner has touched a base (or when the base was touched) is considered a judgment call, and that portion of the situation is not appealable under 9.02(a) – the umpire’s judgment is final. Thus, if the umpire disagrees that R1 passed R2, it’s over. However, if the umpire does agree that R1 did pass R2, then the failure of the umpire to call the following runner out is not in accordance with the rules. That act (or non-act) is “appealable” under 9.02(b). If the manager appealed and the umpire did not correct the situation, this would then be protestable under 4.19 as not being in accordance with the playing rules.
There is a variant of this that comes up somewhat more frequently. Same situation. R2 touches the plate, then R1 crosses, but does not actually touch, the plate. The BR then touches the plate. R1 then realizes his/her mistake (or is told by the manager, the crowd, whatever) and returns and touches the plate. Again, we have “out of order touching,” (BR before R1) with the difference that no runner passed one another. (Once runners have reached the plate, we stop worrying about “passing.”)
In this new situation, we are now dealing with a missed base, not a runner passing one another. Initially all three runs are considered to have scored – a runner who passes a base or the plate treated as having touched it unless the defense appeals. The defense can, however, get an out on the missed base. 7.10 uses the term “on appeal,” so the defense would have to go through the proper “missed base appeal” in order to get the out – the other sense of the word “appeal” in the rulebook. Thus, they must wait for the umpire to call “play,” tag home plate, and call the umpire’s attention to the miss.
If the appeal is properly carried out, R1 would then be declared out, and his/her run would come off the board. Although R1 did eventually touch the plate, per 7.10(b) APPROVED RULING #1, he or she may not “correct” the miss once the BR has touched the plate – R1’s subsequent touch is considered to never have happened.
In addition, if there were two outs at the time of the home run, and if the defense properly appeals R1’s miss of home, then only R2’s run would count. There was no force at home, so all three runs crossed the plate before the out, which is considered to occur at the time of the appeal itself. R1’s run is taken off the board because he/she was called out on appeal. The BR’s run is also taken off the board under 4.09 (a) EXCEPTION 3, because the third out was made by a runner in front of the BR.
And hopefully the umpire doesn’t need an armed escort to his/her car…
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