During last night's semi-final game against Flossmoor, Ryan Tannebaum was called out for interference. The home plate umpire ruled that Ryan's foot touched home plate as he made contact with the baseball while he laid down a bunt down the third base line.
Between innings, I pointed out that merely touching the plate is not enough for a batter to be called out for interference. Rather, OBR Rule 6.05(a) specifically points out that a batter is out..."if he hits a ball with one or both feet on the ground entirely outside of the batter's box..." For purposes of this rule, the chalk outlining the box is considered to be inside the box. So, unless Ryan's foot was entirely outside of the box--not even the back of his heel being in contact with the chalk--the interference call was not proper.
Given that the chalk was within one inch of the plate, I highly doubt that Ryan had his entire left foot on the plate!
In any event, the base umpire came over and insisted that a hitter should be called out when his foot is in contact with the plate. Given that I already proved his interpretation of a previous rule (not allowing Jason Waner to take signs from the dugout) wrong, the umpire did not have much credibility with me.
After consulting with a number of umpiring authorities, it is clear that the umpires missed this interference call as well. One umpire mentioned that this is one of his top 25 baseball "myths".
To be called out, that foot must be ENTIRELY outside of the box when he contacts the pitch. "The toe could be on the plate and the heel could be touching the line of the box, which means that the foot is not entirely outside the box. The rule makes no statement about touching the plate."
2011 Chicagoland Tournament Champions & 2011 Lombard Tournament Champions!
