Major League Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti once favourably compared his variation ’s " law and lore " to America ’s organisation of law . Giamatti was talking about a " layer " playing field , but he might just as easily have been draw how both law and play get peculiar procedures from ostensibly simple rules [ generator : Deford ] .
Take baseball ’s part - rule , part - consequence , part quantum physics experimentation , the fourth out . Here one mo , gone the next , it is both an out and not an out . It is Schrödinger ’s out , and it makes the baseball diamond tent-fly rule look simple by compare .
Afourth outhappens when a third out has already been made but a prior out on the same play – typically triggered by a rules violation – has not yet been called . The defense successfully take a leak an appeal while the ball is still live , and the ump calls a temporary quarter out that ( normally ) replaces the exist third out . This not only pretend players ' stat blocks ; it can also abnegate the offense one or more runs [ origin : MLB ] .
To translate why , we must grapple with one of baseball ’s more knotty aspects : When does a run scored during the third - out gambol count ?
If you think that a runner who interbreed the dental plate before the defense makes its third out score a political campaign , you ’re not alone , but you ’re also not needfully right . Under rule 4.09 , the run would not calculate if , for example , the third out was aforce - out– an out against a smuggler who has misplace the right to worry a particular basis because of the batter becoming a blue runner – or if the third out is made against the batsman - Caranx crysos . likewise , if two runners cut through the plate near each other , but the first runner give out to adjoin either household or a premature groundwork and is tagged out , then the second run wo n’t count , even if he crossed before the tag ( again , assuming two out ) [ source : MLB ] .
The second example identify anappeal play , the key to triggering a 4th out . As the name suggests , an appeal play commingle an appeal – direct out a rules violation to anumpire– and a play – tagging the base or the runner to make an out [ source : MLB ] .
Even if you do n’t have sex it by name , chances are you ’ve watch an charm play – say , when a base runner marking from second misses third base , or when a scoring runner from third fails to label up on a caught rainfly ball . In either display case , the fieldsman could alarm the ump and tag the grip or the runner to get the out . Well , if either of these circumstances happens during a third - out play , the lead appeal bid triggers a fourth out and remove the scoring run , because the runner is considered out at the fundament where the violation happen , and therefore never scored [ beginning : MLB ] .
Confused ? A few examples ought to clear thing up . Or not …
Extra Innings? Try Extra Outings
The 4th out might sound like a mere bone for rulebook lawyers to pluck , but failing to hold on its Indiana and out can be game .
Take the Arizona Diamondbacks in their April 12 , 2009 , outing against Los Angeles . In the second frame , Dodger Randy Wolf comes to bat with one out and runners Juan Pierre on second and Andre Ethier on third . Wolf drills a personal line of credit drive to pitcher Dan Haren , who get the catch , then ditch the cowhide to Felipe Lopez at secondly . With Wolf ’s ball get , Pierre and Ethier , who prevail at the cracking of the cricket bat , must now touch up second and third , but Ethier continues household , traverse the plate before Pierre is tagged out [ seed : Gurnick;Hernandez;MLB;Piecoro ] .
Ethier ’s nonstarter to trail up should set off a fourth out that undoes his run , but the D - backs leave the field without making the necessary collection play . Plate umpire Larry Vanover rules that the running is good , granting Los Angeles the tying streak in what would be a 3 - 1victoryover Arizona . Too bad Lopez did n’t just touch second base rather of running down Pierre and giving Ethier time to score . It would have keep a pile of trouble [ sources : Gurnick;Hernandez;MLB;Piecoro ] .
Getting the hang of it ? Let ’s try a more theoretical model , this time from the June 10 , 2010 , match between the Minnesota Twins and the Kansas City Royals . It ’s the bottom of the third , there ’s one out , and the Twins trail by three . Minnesota ’s Joe Mauer steps to the plate with runners Denard Span on 2nd and Nick Punto on third . Mauer flies out , and Punto and Span clamber to track up , but Span is beat out at second and the Twins are hit the sack [ source : Boeck;MLB ] .
Rewinding the tape , we see that Span never touched third while returning to second – a moot fourth out , since no run was at wager . But suppose Punto had made it home before Span ’s out ? substantially still , what if Span had been safe at second ( but still sheer third base ) and Punto had scored ( but failed to tag up ) ?
puzzling ? Just expect . As Scott Boeck of USA Today target out , under these circumstances , the Royals could make two charm play – one against Span for fail to touch third and one against Punto for not tag up after the fly sheet out . But which appeal would make the third out , and which would become the 4th out that replaced it [ source : Boeck;MLB ] ?
result : Whichever one Kansas City select .
harmonise to rule 7.10 , when the denial make more than one appeal during a free rein that would end a half - inning , it can opt which third out to keep . In this case , the Royals would keep Punto ’s fourth out to nix his run [ sources : Boeck;MLB ] .
It ’s just that simple .
Lots More Information
As the quaternary out reminds us , baseball game ’s seemingly simple rules conceal a maze of conditional gun trigger and oddball exception that can make the game feel inaccessible to first - timer . Do n’t consider me ? Try explain baseball to someone from another country .
Or consider this : The missed fourth - out chance that gained the Dodgers their redundant run baffled most of the players and managers on both teams – and they do this for a bread and butter .
