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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!inuxc!iuvax!wickart
From: wickart@iuvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.sport.baseball
Subject: solution: two runners rundown proble
Message-ID: <9400006@iuvax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 9-May-84 17:19:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: iuvax.9400006
Posted: Wed May  9 17:19:00 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 12-May-84 07:43:41 EDT
Lines: 40
Nf-ID: #N:iuvax:9400006:000:2403
Nf-From: iuvax!wickart    May  9 16:19:00 1984


   Surprise! You can get both runners yourself, with very little
effort:
   In the earlier days of baseball, with a runner on third, Ty Cobb
delighted in stealing second base from first, and stealing first
from second on the following pitch. If any throw was attempted, Cobb
would do his best to take out the recipient, allowing the runner to
score. This tactic so annoyed the opposition that a rule was passed
stating that once a runner had taken legal posession of a base, the
only ways this could be relinquished were by putout or advancing to
toward the next base.
   Under this rule, now that Beeblebrox has touched third, it is
closed to Andrews until Beeblebrox either is put out or advances
to home (the latter is useless, as Beeblebrox would have to pass
Andrews to score; passing another runner causes one to be out).
Since Beeblebrox owns third, he is not safe anywhere but there and
home, and Andrews is safe only at home. Simply chase Andrews toward
home, and Andrews is safe only at home.
   Simply chase Andrews toward third. As he cannot stray more than
3 feet from the basepath between third and home, he will be an easy
out. He cannot back up farther than third, as the third-home path
is his only refuge. Now chase Beeblebrox towrd second in exactly the
same fashion. As his only refuge is likewise the third-home basepath,
as soon as he makes any move away from you, he is out for leaving
the path to avoid putout.
   On the offensive side, once Beeblebrox realizes that you are rather
nonchalant about all this, he should probably make a beeline to round
third and head for home. Granted, he will be out as soon as he passes
Andrews, but it will allow Andrews to retake third, and may confuse
enough of your teammates (and possibly you) to allow Andrews to score.
In any case, it can cut his tem's loss to one baserunner.
   Note: when this happened to me, the umpire was not aware of the
rules, calling Andrews safe at third, Beeblebrox safe at second. At
my behest, the team captain registered a protest of the game (we were
behind by two runs at the time). I was required to finish pitching
the inning  from there (pitcher is backup at the plate on these plays),
with Andrews eventually scoring. We won the game anyway, but, as my
ERA had been besmirched, the protest was continued. The umpire was
overruled by the league comission, and the final score adjusted by
that one run.