Tie goes to the runner

[Charlie Brown]

Yes

http://www.livestrong.com/article/394154-the-tie-goes-to-the-runner-rules-for-baseball/

No

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/umpires/feature.jsp?feature=mcclellandqa

Maybe

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2009/03/tie-goes-towhom.html

In reality (based on physics)

http://www.thebaseballpage.com/forum/threads.php?id=257_0_2_0_C

We have baseball writers here. What do you say? I've heard long debates on the radio during games. Some emphatically say the rule book contains contradictions. The MLB umpire in the link above seems pretty convinced that's not true. So, poorly written rule? Myth? Both?

 

[YankeeFan]

I have to click on four different links to participate in this discussion?

Care to summarize or give us a couple of excerpts?

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

You either beat the throw or you are out.

 

[slappy4428]

You either beat the throw or you are out.

Oh sure. If you want to OVERsimplify..

 

[MartinonMTV2]

Tie goes to the runner. It's the same as if the guy were already standing on the bag.

 

[RickStain]

You either beat the throw or you are out.

According to the rulebook, the throw has to beat you for you to be out. Since we are concerning ourselves with the imaginary idea of "ties," that's an important distinction.

 

[User 11148]

With a continuous random variable, of which time is an example, there can be no ties. Now, the differential might be smaller than the margin of error of the measurement, but that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish.

 

[rpmmutant]

There are no ties in baseball. I wonder how Aramando Galarraga feels about this myth of a rule.

 

[MartinonMTV2]

There are no ties in baseball. I wonder how Aramando Galarraga feels about this myth of a rule.

He brought that on himself by not catching the ball cleanly.

 

[Charlie Brown]

I have to click on four different links to participate in this discussion?

No. You could say "yes" or "no." You don't have an opinion on what you think the rule is?

 

[dooley_womack1]

Will not comment until we get his expert views.

 

[deskslave]

There are no ties in baseball.

Agrees:

 

[HandsomeHarley]

I've had several umpires tell me there is no such rule. It's purely a judgment call.

 

[Chef2]

Safe or out.

Tie to the runner does not exist.

 

[apeman33]

Safe or out.

Tie to the runner does not exist.

This, so I've been told more than once. I'd always heard, and maybe this is a sports version of an urban myth, that a tie isn't addressed in the rule book so what's been accepted is that the runner will be called safe because the ball didn't beat him to the base. And that is left entirely up to the umpire to determine.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

The MLB link quotes an ump as saying ties don't exist, but he says the runner must beat the throw -- not that the throw must beat the runner.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

"It ain't nothin' until I say what it was" -- Bill Klem on calling balls and strikes.

Same deal here. There CANNOT be a tie, because the umpire will call safe or out, and whether the rule says the throw must beat the runner or vice versa, the ump is enforcing said rule with his judgment. There could only be ties if baseball had a call for ties.
Do runners get more of the really, really close calls, thereby causing this cliche to come into being? I dunno. Have the sabermetric mob get themselves a few billion feet of video and do a study.

 

[apeman33]

No, there can't be a tie. Either he's out or safe. But there's a perception that "ties go to the runner." It's probably just something that's become sort of a sports urban legend. But the umpire has to have a definition in his mind to determine what an out is. When I umpired, my interpretation was, "ball must beat the runner." And my thought on a bang-bang play wasn't, "There's a tie, so he's safe." It was, "Ball didn't beat him, so he's safe."

Even if that's not right, at least I had a reason and that was better than most of the coaches in the league. I once had a coach argue with me that the runner on third shouldn't have been allowed to score on a sacrifice fly because the fielder caught it in foul territory and he thought that made it a dead ball.

 

[sgreenwell]

No, there can't be a tie. Either he's out or safe. But there's a perception that "ties go to the runner." It's probably just something that's become sort of a sports urban legend. But the umpire has to have a definition in his mind to determine what an out is. When I umpired, my interpretation was, "ball must beat the runner." And my thought on a bang-bang play wasn't, "There's a tie, so he's safe." It was, "Ball didn't beat him, so he's safe."

Even if that's not right, at least I had a reason and that was better than most of the coaches in the league. I once had a coach argue with me that the runner on third shouldn't have been allowed to score on a sacrifice fly because the fielder caught it in foul territory and he thought that made it a dead ball.

I agree with this. I think it's in the same category as the make-up call in basketball.

 

[Chef2]

The MLB link quotes an ump as saying ties don't exist, but he says the runner must beat the throw -- not that the throw must beat the runner.

.....and therefore the difference between safe and out.