What others are saying
I spent the last two days on the road listening to both experts and fans discuss the rule. Sadly a lot of the ‘experts’ have either never read the rules or have forgotten what they say. Fan comments ranged from the analytic to the silly.
One fan suggested that asking a playing running as hard as he could towards second base to slide at the correct distance from the base would lead to injury. I suppose runners stealing a base either aren’t running that fast and thus won’t be injured when they slide or in some way have a better method of gauging the distance. Slides done correctly allow a runner to stop on the base without injury, that’s what they were designed to do.
One caller said that the rule wrapped middle infielders in bubble wrap as if they were a piece of china. That’s not true, it simply means that no one will slide into the back of their legs or their ankles when they are six feet off the bag.
Stern and others suggested that Ruben Tejada caused his own injury because he had his back to the runner. Blaming the victim in any situation is wrong; Chase Utley intended to hit Tejada and in fact never touched the bag because his only focus was making sure he hammered Tejada. I’m not sure if he has something personal against him or not but it was not the first time he had upended Tejada but the shortstop managed to walk away from that one.
While it’s always good to have the approaching runner in view, the video and still picture evidence shows he was six feet off the bag and behind it when he was hit. A defender who is not in the baseline should not expect to be run over or chopped down.
Former players are chiming in an all of their arguments are based on the position that it was the way they were taught to play the game. I don’t disagree but that doesn’t make it the right way to play the game.
Bottom Line
The bottom line is this, the rule was not changed significantly. The change simply defined a slide and the umpires were given direction previously omitted or ignored to enforce it. If you’d liked it when the rule was largely ignored I’m sorry but that day has gone. I’m not sure you would really want it completely ignored anyway; consider this.
In the final game of the World series Eric Hosmer scored from third on an infield out. Using the logic being proffered to support ignoring the rules at second base the batter going to first and seeing Lucas Duda turn to throw home could have slid into first reaching for the bag with his hand and taking Duda out at the ankles with his feet.
There is no functional difference in breaking up that double play or a play at similar play second. If it had happened however I am absolutely sure fans would have been outraged and that both the runner and Hosmer would have rightly been called out.
That’s A Wrap
Baseball is and has been schizophrenic about calling interference with the advantage always going to the team on offense. Don’t think so?
- In 2014 we saw Freddie Freeman called out when he slid legally into second but left his hand in the air allowing the throw to hit his finger as it winded it’s way to first. That was clearly unintentional interference; no man in his right mind wants to get hit on the hand, arm or wrist with a 90mph throw.
- Base runners are taught that if they get into a rundown they should seek out a way to collide even minimally with a defender because even if the runner touches him on purpose the defender will be called for interference.
- Runners leaving the batter’s box are not called for running outside 45 foot running box if the throw from the pitcher doesn’t hit them in the back even if they were directly in the pitcher’s sight line and interfering.
Incidents of players on offense being called for interfering with a defender prior to this season were rare. Aside from the slide plays I wrote about last year and Alex Rodriguez slapping the ball out of the pitcher’s glove while running to first none come to mind.
I hear fans complaining that the rule makes the game ‘softer’. History suggests that those predicting doom are incorrect.
I remember similar arguments batting helmets making the game less manly. That didn’t happen.
Next: What happened last night?
I recall the home plate collision rule being put forward as the end of exciting plays at the plate. That hasn’t happened either.
Ending the days of season or career ending injuries for middle infielders by protecting them when they are off the bag and enforcing rules covering interference that have been on the books forever will like not make the game softer. There will still be contact there will still be injuries and there will still be exciting plays at second base. The only thing eliminated are serious injuries from egregious and completely insane challenges like the ones used by Utley and Coghlan; and that’s a good thing.