Just before opening day, major league baseball and the players association announced several policies designed to better diagnosis and treat concussions. Despite the progressive measures adopted, however, there are many more steps that can be taken, not the least of which involves enforcing the current rules as they pertain to plays at the plate.
Should violent collisions at home plate be outlawed by MLB (Photos: Getty Images)?
Baseball is not supposed be a collision sport, but that’s sure how it looked yesterday in Colorado when Justin Upton tried to score on Melvin Mora’s weak groundball to short stop. On the play, which occurred with the score tied in the top of the 10th, Troy Tulowitzki fielded the slow roller and fired home to Chris Iannetta, who was immediately blind sided by the forearm of Upton. Incredibly, Iannetta held onto the ball and escaped injury (at least one that we know of), but it’s easy to see how a different outcome could have resulted. After all, even the NFL, which sells violence, has rules against slamming into a defenseless receiver, so it seems ridiculous that baseball would tolerate such a play.
The catcher, without the ball in his possession, has no right to block the pathway of the runner attempting to score. The base line belongs to the runner and the catcher should be there only when he is fielding a ball or when he already has the ball in his hand.” – MLB rule 7.06(b)
As mentioned, baseball doesn’t need to make any rule changes to eliminate this needlessly dangerous play from the game. All it has to do is enforce ones that already exist. For starters, catchers, like all other fielders, ARE NOT allowed to block the plate. According to Rule 7.06b, “The catcher, without the ball in his possession, has no right to block the pathway of the runner attempting to score. The base line belongs to the runner and the catcher should be there only when he is fielding a ball or when he already has the ball in his hand.”
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