Derek Jeter, Marty Foster & The Old Ball Beats The Runner Trick

In case you missed it today, here’s what many are buzzing about from today’s game, via The Star-Ledger:

When Derek Jeter was called out attempting to steal third base with no one out, he asked third base umpire Marty Foster for a reason.

Jeter thought he was safe. The ball had beaten him there, but he moved his left hand around Scott Rolen’s glove and replays showed he touched the bag before Rolen’s tag.

“He didn’t tag me,” Jeter told Foster.

“He didn’t have to,” Foster said, according to Jeter. “The ball beat you.”

Jeter was incensed. He followed Foster as he walked away to argue. Third base coach Rob Thomson restrained Jeter as Yankees manager Joe Girardi ran toward third looking for an explanation. (“Jete’s not going to argue unless he’s safe,” Girardi said. “That’s the type of player that Derek Jeter is.”)

So less than a minute later, when Girardi received the same reasoning Jeter did, the manager was ejected.

“I didn’t care for the explanation,” Girardi said. “Just leave it at that. There has to be more to it.”

Jeter, who rarely argues any call, couldn’t believe what he was told.

“I was baffled by the explanation,” Jeter said. “I was told I was out because the ball beat me and he didn’t have to tag me. I was unaware of that change in the rules.”

Foster was not made available to reporters after the game. Crew chief John Hirschbeck said Jeter may have been in the right, but couldn’t say for sure. He had not spoken to Foster about his exchange with Jeter.

“It would make (Jeter’s) actions seem appropriate if that’s what he was told,” Hirschbeck told reporters. “It used to be if the ball beat you, you were out, but it isn’t that way anymore. It’s not a reason to call someone out. You have to make a good tag.”

Jeter, who said he has never been tossed from any game he’s played on any level, said he wasn’t close to being ejected. That’s because he said he couldn’t argue with Foster’s bizarre reasoning.

Even Hirschbeck was surprised at Jeter’s reaction.

“In my 27 years in the big leagues, he is probably the classiest person I’ve been around,” Hirschbeck said.

For the record, MLB Rule 7.01 says: “A runner acquires the right to an unoccupied base when he touches it before he is out. He is then entitled to it until he is put out, or forced to vacate it for another runner legally entitled to that base.” And, within the rules it defines that:

“An OUT is one of the three required retirements of an offensive team during its time at bat.” And,

“A TAG is the action of a fielder in touching a base with his body while holding the ball securely and firmly in his hand or glove; or touching a runner with the ball, or with his hand or glove holding the ball, while holding the ball securely and firmly in his hand or glove.”

But, where, in the official baseball rules, is the matter of retiring a runner on an attempted steal covered? I’ve looked at it, quickly, a few times and see nothing about whether the ball has to beat the runner or if the runner needs to be tagged (to be retired). Crazy, huh? Unless I’m missing something…

That said, conventional wisdom and past practice would suggest that, in the absence of a force play, the runner would have to be tagged out. Otherwise, why would fielders even have to attempt a tag? If a tag is not needed, fielders would just reach out for the throw – like a first baseman does when taking a throw to his bag in an attempt to retire a batter-runner.

Update: Rule 7.08(c) covers retiring a runner on an attempted steal. (How did I miss that?) Thanks to Lee Sinins for pointing that out.

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