“Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball, the rules and realities of the game.”
– Jacques Barzun (French-born American historian, essayist, and educator who helped establish the modern discipline of cultural history; author or New York Times bestseller From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present (2000); died Oct 25, 2012 at the age of 104)
Sir Isaac Newton was born January 4, 1643 in Woolsthorpe, England and is arguably the greatest physicist and mathematician of his time. With discoveries in optics, motion and mathematics, Newton developed the principles of modern physics and was a primary contributor to the 17th century Scientific Revolution. In 1687, he published his most acclaimed work, Philosophiae, Natrualis, Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), which has been called the single-most influential book on physics. Most often simply referred to as Principia, the work contains information on nearly all of the essential concepts of physics.
Principia offers an exact quantitative description of bodies in motion in three basic laws:
1) A body at rest will stay at rest unless an external force is applied to it;
2) Force is equal to mass times acceleration, and a change in motion is proportional to the force applied; and
3) For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
These three laws help explain nearly every motion in the universe, including elliptical planetary orbits, how the planets are kept in orbit by the pull of the sun’s gravity, how the moon revolves around earth, and much more.
The ideas put forth in Principia are the basis for what is referred to as Classical Mechanics.
Classical Mechanics govern virtually everything we see and do on a day-to-day basis. Classical Mechanics are the scientific laws used to describe our visible universe. It uses common sense notions of how matter and forces exist and interact, and deals with objects that have a non-zero size. But there are things we can’t see. There are things we don’t see on a day-to-day basis. What we can’t see, what we don’t see – things like subatomic particles (electrons, neutrons, quarks, and more) – are governed by the laws of Quantum Mechanics. The notions of Quantum Mechanics – like the ones that say objects may have unknowable position or velocity, or instantaneously interact with other objects at a distance – are removed from common sense.
It’s perhaps a bit of a stretch to say so, but baseball is sort of like this too. There are notions in baseball that are well understood, plays and situations that we see all the time – ground balls, fly balls, putouts, double plays, called third strikes, walks, hit by pitches, and much much more. Most things in baseball are relatively common.
If you participate in or watch enough youth baseball games though, you’re likely to experience or see at least a few things that aren’t part of the normal visible universe of youth baseball – a triple play, a perfect game, a three-pitch inning, a four strikeout inning, a homerun getting robbed by an over-the-fence catch, or a player hitting for the cycle. These are the type of things you might see in a youth baseball game, but not on a regular basis. They’re a little less common.
Everything you see in baseball is governed by rules. These rules generally speaking are fairly straightforward. And our common sense (Classical Mechanics) notions of baseball rules govern more than 99% (or more) of what we see on the field. For instance:
Common sense in baseball tells us that if a batter swings at a pitch and misses, it is a strike. National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Baseball Rule 7, Section 2, Article 1b – “a strike is charged to the batter when a pitch is struck at and missed…”
Common sense in baseball tells us that if a batter hits a ball into the air and it is caught by a player in the field before it hits the ground, it is an out. National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Baseball Rule 8, Section 4, Article 1b – “The batter-runner is out when his fair hit or foul is caught by a fielder…”
But sometimes common sense isn’t all that technically applies. Even though we don’t see it, a rule may actually say something other than what we’ve accepted as our common understanding of that rule.
Common sense in baseball tells us that a baserunner before advancing to another base when a fly or foul ball is caught, must tag up and not leave the base until that fly or foul ball is caught . “Don’t leave until he catches the ball,” a coach might say to a baserunner. This common sense notion applies to 99.99% of all tag plays in youth baseball. In fact, in all my years playing and now coaching youth baseball, I’ve never actually seen it apply otherwise. But the rule doesn’t actually say the ball must be caught before the runner can leave after tagging up.
National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Baseball Rule 8, Section 2, Article 4 – “If a fair or foul batted ball is caught, other than a foul tip, each base runner shall touch his base after the batted ball has touched a fielder.”
“After the batted ball has touched a fielder”, not “after the batted ball has been caught by a fielder.”
What does this mean exactly? It means that if a fly ball is bobbled by an outfielder, a baserunner can leave a base after tagging up once the ball has been touched by the outfielder, not when it is actually caught and secured.
It means that if a ball is deflected in the air by one player and caught by another before hitting the ground, the baserunner can leave a base after tagging up once the first fielder has deflected the ball. The baserunner need not wait until the second fielder has caught and secured the ball.
Take a look at this clip of the opening credits of the early ‘80s TV sitcom “Bossom Buddies”.
At the end of the clip you’ll see Kip Wilson (played by Tom Hanks) catch a softball in the outfield (presumably during some sort of intramural softball game) after being tipped by his friend Henry Desmond (played by Peter Scolari). If you happened to be standing on third base waiting to tag up on this fly ball, you could leave third once Henry tipped the ball. You wouldn’t have to wait until Kip caught it.
Slow your mind down now, and imagine something…
Imagine for a moment that you’re a base runner standing on third base with less than two outs…
The game is tied in the bottom of the last inning. You represent the winning run…
As the pitcher readies himself on the mound, you take your lead off third base in foul territory (to avoid the possibility of being hit with a batted ball while standing in fair territory – which would render you out)…
The pitcher then delivers the ball to home, at which point you extend your lead…
The pitch is a hitter’s pitch and your teammate at the plate hits a screaming line drive toward the third baseman’s head…
Your first reaction is not to lurch toward home, but rather to move back to third. You instinctively know on line drives to make sure you don’t get doubled-up…
The ball appears to be rising as it travels through the air…
It looks like it’s going to scream right over the third baseman’s head…
But the third baseman gets his glove up and the ball deflects off the top of his glove…
The ball is floating into left field…
You tag third base and take off for home…
The left fielder moves in to make the catch…
He dives for the ball…
You’re almost halfway home when the ball is caught by the left fielder. He’s lying on the ground with the ball…
The opposing coach is screaming that you left early…
The left fielder jumps off the ground and makes a perfect throw to home…
The catcher catches the ball and applies a tag…
But it is too late. You slide into home. Safe…
Your team erupts in celebration…
As you and your teammates jump around in celebration, the opposing pitcher makes an appeal to third…
The opposing coach is still screaming that you left early…
After the appeal, the umpire calls you safe…
The game has been won…
…because you tagged on the touch, not on the catch.
Elevate Your Baseball Game 
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