Honesty Rule?

[calsnowskier]

I am not sure how to name this concept, so I went with “Honesty Rule”, though it doesn’t really fit…

Watching Julio’s play made me wonder if it were legal for the OF to juke like that in order to get runners on base to advance thinking it was a HR only to throw the ball in and double them up. Or would all the runners be “awarded” their previous bases since they would have advanced based on umpire declaration?

There definitely seems to be some room for gamesmanship in that scenario.

 

[kcden]

I am not sure how to name this concept, so I went with “Honesty Rule”, though it doesn’t really fit…

Watching Julio’s play made me wonder if it were legal for the OF to juke like that in order to get runners on base to advance thinking it was a HR only to throw the ball in and double them up. Or would all the runners be “awarded” their previous bases since they would have advanced based on umpire declaration?

There definitely seems to be some room for gamesmanship in that scenario.

Not sure how that would be any different than the "pick-off" plays where the player at the bag acts like he doesn't have the ball; those have been around forever.

 

[calsnowskier]

Not sure how that would be any different than the "pick-off" plays where the player at the bag acts like he doesn't have the ball; those have been around forever.

You are probably right. But if the ump signals a HR and the runners advance based on the umps ruling, that may fall under the same logic as the infield fly rule.

Further, has an OFer ever used this ploy to double off a runner before?

 

[mr.hockey4242]

I mean the runners one job is to make sure catch or no catch has been ruled before going.

Once the ump makes an official ruling then they go.

Also in this instance they have no reason to keep running anyways. He either caught it and they have to tag up to advance. Or he didnt catch it and its a homer and they are allowed to freely run whenever. They dont need the headstart.

 

[broncosmitty]

No such thing as honesty in baseball.