AboutBrian Flaspohler Expertise Questions about baseball rules, general information about the game, statistical analysis, questions about players, questions about Baseball records. I am a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and a lifelong baseball fanatic. Don't ask me questions about training - this is not my area of expertise.
Experience Lifelong fan, article about player movement from team to team throughout history.
Question Last Inning, two outs, 1 ball and 1 strike. Tied game 3 to 3. there is a runner on third and where in the outfield. Our pitcher throws a wild pitch, the batter never swings, as catcher misses the ball turns behind to retrieve the ball. The batter takes off to first base. This action causes our catcher to throw the ball to first base to apparently force batter out and end the game. In doing so the third base runner runs in and scores for the win.
My question. Since the batter ran to first base intentionally and for no legal reason, is this action considered interference and if so is it considered an automatic out.
If so can you please direct me to an official rule that states the the interference.
Answer Danny,
This in not interference because the batter/runner made no effort to interfere with the play.
In fact, there is no rule governing this issue. So I would rule the runner safe and the game over.
The only rule about baserunning incorrectly is a specific rule that states that the batter may not run the bases in reverse order in order to make a farce of the game.
