Rules

Bob’s Bizarre Bazaar

by Bob Nasser, NVBUA Rules Interpreter

This month, we are documenting a couple of odd rule situations we’ve seen so far this season. Remember, the focus of these rules is only NHFS rules. One thing that will become clear is that to be able to adjudicate these weird situations properly, it requires a thorough knowledge of the rule book.

The first situation was encountered by our fearless leader, Dave Maher. The situation was as follows:

Courtesy runner Smith was put in for the catcher at first base and was standing on first base. However, Smith had previously participated in the game. Therefore, Smith is ineligible to be a courtesy runner (see game speed up rules page 68, #5).

A player who violates the courtesy runner rule is considered to be an ineligible substitute (page 68, #7). We know from rule 3-1-1 that when an illegal substitute on offense is discovered, the substitute is out and restricted to the dugout. So do we have an out and is Smith restricted to the dugout here? The answer is… it depends.

The first question to ask is whether this was a reported substitute. Again, rule 3-1-1 states that a substitute is considered to be in the game when reported.

So, if the courtesy runner was reported, it would seem that by virtue of the rule that by standing on first base this makes him an illegal substitute. (As a side note, this would be a good time to exercise some preventative umpiring and tell the coach when he is reporting the courtesy runner that Smith is not eligible and avoid the mess.) If Smith was merely sent to first and he was not reported, he’s not in the game until the ball is live. So up until that point the Smith may be replaced by an eligible courtesy runner or the catcher without penalty. Once the ball is live, Smith would be out and then restricted.

The second weird situation:

Between half- innings, the shortstop Jones picked up the ball and threw a warmup pitch to the catcher. Does this make Jones the pitcher requiring him to then pitch to one batter? (rule 3-1-2) Much like the first situation, this would be an unreported substitute. We know from rule 3-1-1 that an unreported substitute for the pitcher is not considered to be in the game until the ball becomes live and the pitcher takes his place on the pitcher’s plate. So here, the answer would be no, Jones is not the pitcher of record.

The final situation:

There was a varsity game where the centerfielder forgot his jersey and the team found an old JV jersey for him to wear. This is legal, per rule 1-4-1, assuming they are of the same color and style. However, in the third inning, it was discovered that the catcher and the centerfielder had the same number. Rule 1-4-3 says no players on the same team shall have identical numbers. OK, so what do we do now?

The rule does not specify a penalty. I would do whatever we could to keep the player in the game. We know from case play 1-1-3 that the player’s name is the important thing, not the number. I think the equitable solution here would be to simply have the player change jerseys with a player who will not be used, like an illegible pitcher.

That’s it for this month. If there are any rules-related topics folks would like to see covered in The Blue Crew News, please reach out to one of the rules committee members: Bob Nasser ([email protected]), Josh Cooper ([email protected]), Matt Powers ([email protected]) or Mel Simon ([email protected]) with ideas.