Hey baseball fans! Can you spot the point at which this poignant wire story of true sportsmanship is interrupted by the classic needle-scratching-record sound effect?
PORTLAND, Ore. - With two runners on base and a strike against her, Sara Tucholsky of Western Oregon University uncorked her best swing and did something she had never done, in high school or college. Her first home run cleared the center-field fence.But it appeared to be the shortest of dreams come true when she missed first base, started back to tag it and collapsed with a knee injury.
She crawled back to first but could do no more. The first-base coach said she would be called out if her teammates tried to help her. Or, the umpire said, a pinch runner could be called in, and the homer would count as a single.
Then, members of the Central Washington University softball team stunned spectators by carrying Tucholsky around the bases Saturday so the three-run homer would count—an act that contributed to their own elimination from the playoffs.
Does it make their gesture less touching if one points out that the umpire's tough ruling here was totally ridiculous? Herewith, Official Rule of Baseball 5.10(c)(1):
If an accident to a runner is such as to prevent him from proceeding to a base to which he is entitled, as on a home run hit out of the playing field, or an award of one or more bases, a substitute runner shall be permitted to complete the play.
This has happened often enough for ordinary fans to be aware of it: if I asked the 11 guys in my fantasy league what the right ruling was, at least nine of them would know the right answer. (Granted, a bunch of them are Red Sox fans, so they'd remember the time Gabe Kapler tore his Achilles on Tony Graffanino's homer.) The reporter should have named and shamed the incompetent official, or at least thought to question a ruling that would have left Tucholsky flailing about indefinitely, with the game in limbo, a few feet from first base. After all, how the hell was CWU supposed to tag her out with the ball legally dead in the stands?
Comments (10)
Good point...but the sport is softball...perhaps the rules are different in that regard?
Posted by joey | May 1, 2008 1:01 PM
Posted on May 1, 2008 13:01
(Granted, a bunch of them are Red Sox fans, so they'd remember the time Gabe Kapler tore his Achilles on Tony Graffanino's homer.)
I was actually at the game in question. The Steroids Era giveth and the Steroids Era ruptureth.
Posted by Tyler | May 1, 2008 1:04 PM
Posted on May 1, 2008 13:04
OK, fine, softball. My bad. From the rulebook of the International Softball Federation, s. 8(d):
If an injury to a batter-runner (or runner) prevents them from proceeding to an awarded base, and the ball is dead, the batter-runner (or runner) may be substituted for. The substitute will be allowed to proceed to any awarded base(s). The substitute must legally touch any awarded or missed base(s) not previously touched.
Posted by Colby Cosh | May 1, 2008 1:43 PM
Posted on May 1, 2008 13:43
And from the NCAA's softball rulebook, item 8-6(c)(2):
If an injury to a batter-runner or runner prevents her from proceeding to an awarded base, the ball is dead and substitution may be made. The substitute must legally touch all awarded or missed bases not previously touched.
How the hell else can it work?
Posted by Colby Cosh | May 1, 2008 1:47 PM
Posted on May 1, 2008 13:47
Didn't Orlando Hudson mess up his knee rounding second on a HR once? I remember they brought in a pinch runner to finish it out. This happens more often than you might think.
Posted by Sean | May 1, 2008 2:38 PM
Posted on May 1, 2008 14:38
I think Hudson is the most recent one, but Retrosheet has only two other examples of a mid-play substitution on a dead ball (one of which is Kapler).
Posted by Colby Cosh | May 1, 2008 2:42 PM
Posted on May 1, 2008 14:42
Baseball? People still care about that ?
Posted by matt | May 2, 2008 7:03 AM
Posted on May 2, 2008 07:03
Indeed, matt. I myself think it's just bats...
Posted by ebt | May 2, 2008 10:05 AM
Posted on May 2, 2008 10:05
An America that doesn't know its baseball is an America crumbling.
Posted by lowetide | May 2, 2008 7:26 PM
Posted on May 2, 2008 19:26
I, like Tyler, was at the game where Kapler tore his Achilles. It was frightening.
As I recall, Hudson had to finish his trot-I thought the rules were changed after that to prevent the situation happening again. Or perhaps my memory is acting up again.
Posted by King Rat | May 7, 2008 11:10 PM
Posted on May 7, 2008 23:10