THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

Interesting. I did embarrassingly bad.  But I don’t understand #7.

Am I that horribly confused about timing plays and the need to tag up?  Say there are runners on 1st (R1) and 3rd (R3) and one out, the batter hits a popup.  R3 touches home before it’s caught (i.e. never tags up).  For some reason R1 just hangs out between 1st and 2nd, and waits for the ball to be caught.  The ball is thrown to 1st, so R1 is out.  There are 3 outs and the inning is over.

This is the same scenario as in #7, unless I’m completely missing something.

They’re saying that the run counts, even though he never tagged up on a fly ball, and the 3rd out was made on a force play?

3/10 (what a bunch of bizarre plays)

Reread the question.  The runner that was on first and called out for not tagging was a “retouch” out, not a force out.  Force outs are any out made on a runner that is forced to advance to a base, and is made only at that base.  I think the confusion comes from people believing that a force out is an out made when stepping on the base.

For instance when a batter flies out that is a force out because he is forced to advance to first when the ball is batted.  When a fly is caught and a runner gets caught up for not tagging it’s not a force because he had the right to return to the base.

What the fielding team should of done is thrown over to third also for the ever elusive fourth out.

5/10.  I got the first three right and was feeling way too confident.  Didn’t get one right again until #8, which I had to read a couple of times to make sure I wasn’t missing something--it seemed too obvious for this quiz. 

I can’t believe I missed #7, considering that I was watched an Indians/Orioles game a few years ago in which the umpires added a run two innings after it had scored (it wasn’t the same scenario, as there was no missed appeal, but I should have recognized that the umps could go back and correct a run tallying play like that).

5/10 is probably pretty bad, but to the extent that it is greater than 0, I credit my childhood subscription to Baseball Digest.  They always had a “You Make the Call” feature in each issue.

I also got five out of ten.  I like the one about the phantom run.  Love to see that enforced against the Yankees some day.

Wait, I’m still really confused (and embarrassed).  Are you saying that in the scenario I described in post #1, the run scores? 

I’m not arguing about whether it’s called a force out or not.  I’m saying that when the 3rd out is made because a runner didn’t get back to his original base before the ball does (after the caught fly ball), no runs can score.

I guess I’m completely wrong?  Please confirm, this is going to drive me crazy!

For Jon: Primer thread in which this kind of question is analyzed to exhaustion.

Short answer: if the defense leaves the field after the 3rd out, the run counts. If they throw over to 3rd base, they get a “4th out” and the run does not count.

I guess maybe I didn’t do too badly then since I got 6 right. Plus one of the ones I got wrong, they said was probably an acceptible ruling. So I’ll take credit for 7.

I got 6, despite not being that good about rules.  I cannot believe that the umpires can unilaterally change the score after a game has been played to completion in a professional game.

I only got three, but on one I got “correct in high school” and on the first, I said “interference” instead of “obstruction” because I’m much more familiar with hockey rules.  (And in hockey, it would be the obligation of the runner to avoid the fielder unless the fielder intentionally stepped into his path to hinder him.)

Did anyone else find the constant ads for the book completely annoying?  Every answer was “Hey, you’ll be a fantastic ump if you only read our book, instead of the pathetic fumbler you are now for getting these obscure rulings partially wrong!” I can seen that at the end, maybe, but after every question, right or wrong?  It made me NOT want to buy the book, which sounds wonderful on the merits.

Yes, I would have preferred a more nuanced contextual sales pitch, rather than the boiler plate one that we got.

At the same time, they made no effort on the page I linked to to link back to the actual main site.  No “buy the book” no “home page”.  Nothing.  So, I think that it was misplaced in the popup alert box, when it may as well have been placed in the HTML page itself.  Just a little fix that I think would make a world of difference.

I stopped playing after twice getting questions right but having the site tell me that I’m incorrect because umpires currently interpret the rules differently from the book.  Not a very effective way to sell their product.