Coach Tamanini said:
I had it happen in a JV baseball game this year. ?My leadoff batter hit a ball down the leftfield line and the leftfielder dove, missed, and threw his glove. ?My guy ended up with an inside the park homerun, but after the inning, I checked with the ump, and he said that if he had been thrown out at home, he would have awarded him third, as if it were an obstruction call.
Hmmm...are you sure that's what he told you? Just like an obstruction call?
Yes, it is, but the way he described it is NOT how an obstruction call would work! Same as an obstruction call, the runner is "protected" to a particular base. In this case, it is third base. If the runner overruns that base, he is no longer protected and is liable to be put out.
If the batter/runner is put out anywhere between home and third, then is is like an obstruction call. The batter/runner would still be awrded third base at the end of the play. But on this one, you have a batter who just hit a triple, then was out at home.
The title of this thread is appropriate because this
is a weird rule. It takes up almost half a page of the rule book, but it might actually happen once every thousand games!
There are some basic points:
- Doesn't need to be a glove thrown at the ball. It could be a hat, a shoe or a catcher's mask. The same rule covers a ball contacted by any piece of detatched equipment.
- The glove has to actually contact the ball. If the fielder throws her glove and MISSES the ball, there is no penalty or base award.
- In the case of a batted ball, the conatct must be made with a FAIR batted ball. If the fielder knocks down the ball over foul ground, it is simply a foul ball.
- The three base award applies ONLY when the illegal contact is made with a BATTED ball.
- On a THROWN ball, the award is two bases.
- On a PITCH, the award is one base.
- A glove can come off the fielder's hand BY ACCIDENT and contact the ball. If, in the umpire's judgement, the fielder did not purposely throw her glove at the ball, there is no penalty or award.
All that should cover just about any "thrown glove" call you will see during your daughter's entire playing career! ?
