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Baseball rules corner: failure to retouch a base can cost runner.(Brief Article)(Column)
IN THIS COLUMN, I HAVE TAKEN THE position over the years that ballplayers in general have a limited understanding of the baseball rule book.
A case in point occurred in a game last April 24 played between the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals at Shea Stadium.
The Mets had Jay Payton on first base in the second inning and one out, when Vance Wilson looped a fly ball to right field. Payton took off, but realized on rounding second he had to get back to first with Eli Marrero about to catch the ball.
Payton retreated straight to first base without retouching second en route. The Cardinals appealed and Payton was called out.
Rule 7.10(b) states, "Any runner shall be called out, on appeal, when with the ball in play, while advancing or returning to a base, he fails to touch each base in order before he, or a missed base, is tagged." For a guy like Payton who earned academic honors at Georgia Tech, that's a pretty simple rule.
Is it possible Jay didn't know the rule? The next day, Mets' manager Bobby Valentine was asked that question. Valentine said, "Before tonight, I would have thought that was impossible. But it looked like (Payton) didn't understand why he was out."
Although the replay showed he missed the bag by plenty, Payton insisted he had retouched the base.
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