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| Posted | Discussion |
| June 28, 2014 antieinstein Men's 70 53 posts | Rules Can someone help me out? How far can a runner go between bases before he must advance to the next base? Thanks |
| June 28, 2014 SSUSA Staff 3483 posts | In rough numbers, 69'-11" between 1st and 2nd bases or between 2nd and 3rd bases ... He has about 39'-11" between 3rd and Home before reaching the "commitment line", at which point he must advance to home ... |
| June 28, 2014 Dbax Men's 65 2100 posts | Lol! |
| June 29, 2014 Webbie25 Men's 70 2413 posts | Dave, I love your answer, but it is not entirely correct. If a batter hits a long fly ball and the runner goes past the next base, he is allowed to return to his original base AFTER retouching that next base. That does bring up an interesting question. If a runner is on second, or third for that matter, and a batter hits a long fly ball and the runner passes the commitment line and the ball is caught, can he still go back, retouching third on the way? I think the answer has to be yes here. Also, a runner can get to the next base, but is allowed to return if the runner in front of him has not acquired the next base and must return to his original base, as if in a rundown. However, in this case the commitment line is active. |
| June 29, 2014 Dbax Men's 65 2100 posts | That wasn't the original question. |
| June 29, 2014 B.J. 1105 posts | Webbie, thats why it is called a commitment line...once a runner has passed it there is no return...If a runner after passing it does return to 3rd to tag up on a caught fly ball he should be immediately called out |
| June 29, 2014 stattad Men's 65 235 posts | I thought I read that the commitment line was changed this year to 30' from home plate, not 20'. |
| June 29, 2014 B.J. 1105 posts | yes...• COMMITMENT LINE - The Commitment line was moved to 30' from home plate (formerly 20') to bring the commitment line back into play following the migration of the base distance over the years from 60' to 70' . |
| June 29, 2014 antieinstein Men's 70 53 posts | In some local leagues the commitment line was half way between bases except home plate.Now most have changed. |
| June 29, 2014 SSUSA Staff 3483 posts | The commitment line for SSUSA sanctioned play is exactly as B.J. stated ... It's 40' from 3rd base (which is 30' from Home) in the official SSUSA 70' base distance specification ... SSUSA has never had a commitment line at other than between 3rd base and Home ... We also concur with his interpretation of what should occur should the base runner somehow make the base-running blunder of crossing that commitment line before tagging up on a caught fly ball and then recrossing it on the way back to 3rd base ... |
| June 29, 2014 antieinstein Men's 70 53 posts | I am talking about Recreational leagues. I was told that the reason they did it was to avoid rundowns in the older divisions to minimize injuries. |
| June 29, 2014 SSUSA Staff 3483 posts | antieinstein ... Maybe a better forum for you to get assistance would be the Message Board(s) or "Contact Us" area of the league or leagues you may be inquiring about ... The responses here are with respect to SSUSA sanctioned play ... Local leagues are certainly allowed to have their own rule modifications, and they may be able to help you ... |
| June 30, 2014 mad dog Men's 65 4191 posts | i think the comit line should be closer to third then the plate....just saying.... |
| June 30, 2014 stattad Men's 65 235 posts | I don't think anyone had a calculator handy when they changed the commitment line. It used to be 30% of the distance between home and 3rd. Now it's 43%. The rule should be corrected to 25 feet from home. That would be 35.7% and not such a drastic change. |
| June 30, 2014 SSUSA Staff 3483 posts | There was an almost hilarious debate of 30' vs. 35' at the Rules Committee meetings, and a calculator wasn't even needed! ... The intent was to put the commitment line back in play, since at 50' from 3rd base (20' from home), very few people were doing the U-turn and heading back ... This isn't rocket science, and an extra 10' toward 3rd base just seemed like the right thing to do, or at least a better thing than leaving it at 20' ... Simple stuff, really! |
| June 30, 2014 stattad Men's 65 235 posts | I don't agree. No discussion of 25' at all? |
| June 30, 2014 SSUSA Staff 3483 posts | None at all ... The original 20' distance was 40' from 3rd base on the original 60' bases ... The new distance is also 40' from 3rd base ... It's not a mathematical formula, just simply restoring the runner's ability to make a "go/no-go" decision within the first 40' of leaving 3rd base ... Distance from 3rd, not distance from Home, carried the debate at voting time ... |
| June 30, 2014 stattad Men's 65 235 posts | Too bad. There used to be a lot of exciting plays involving the commitment line that I don't think we'll see anymore. |
| July 1, 2014 SSUSA Staff 3483 posts | There were virtually no "commitment line" plays at 20' after the base distance was moved to 70' ... The 100' U-turn at 50' from 3rd base was simply too long to run, both from a competitive and competitor perspective in the view of the Committee ... Your proposal of 25" is better than 20', as is 30', and possibly even 35' ... The discussion now has shifted from "How do we get the commitment line back in play?" to "How much more distance is appropriate?" ... The Committee believed that 30' was a good start ... |
