In baseball, to make a tag out, must you use the hand/glove in possession of the ball?

Question

For example, if the defensive player has the ball in his glove on his left hand and then touches the player with his right hand, is the runner out?

If you know of any website that proves this point, please let me know.

Thanks all and to be clear, my interpretation is that the runner must be tagged with the ball (or the hand or glove with the ball in it)...

Right??

Answer 1

"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"

Directly from the MLB rulebook- this is from the first link provided. The second page is the rules of the runner.

Answer 2

Dawgdays is correct. The rule book never specifically gives a time frame. It simply defines a Tag with the requirement for the fielder to have firm & secure possession of the baseball and leaves the rest up to the interpretation and judgment of the umpire. In your example, the runner should be safe because if the ball is knocked loose the fielder does not have firm & secure possession. The fact that the ball never touched the ground doesn't mean the fielder had posession of it. To understand why the rulebook doesn't give a set amount of time, consider two opposite situations. A shortstop turning a routine double play might only have the ball in his posession for a split second but this should still be counted as a tag. But imagine an outfielder who gloves the ball in a full sprint as he leans forward, he has the ball in his glove for 5 seconds while he takes several more steps trying to regain his balance but he eventually falls and drops the ball as he hits the ground- the ruling is no catch. Umpires are trained to use their judgment and look for 2 guiding factors. The first factor is firm & secure possession of the ball. The second thing they look for is intentional release of the ball.

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
In baseball, to make a tag out, must you use the hand/glove in possession of the ball?
For example, if the defensive player has the ball in his glove on his left hand and then touches the player with his right hand, is the runner out?

If you know of any website that proves this point, please let me know.

Answer 4

The rule, if you find it in the book, requires explictly that the ball be in the same hand or in the glove used by the player striving to make the "tag". It doesn't matter whether the tag is a touch, a "swipe" or a hard jab--contact actually has to be made with the body of uniform of the baserunner before the runner reaches and stays on a base. Incidentally, you are not supposed to use the force of the tag to dislodge the runner from the base he has otherwise reached safely. For the rules of baseball, look up MLB.com and go to Rules. It's not easy to use, but it works.

Answer 5

The Feilder must tag the runner with the ball. He could tag him 1) with the ball in his gove, 2) with two hand, 3) with the ball in his bare hand. But he cannot mkae a legal tag with his glove, when the ball is not in it, or with his bare hand, when the ball is not in it.

If there is a force situation, it doesn't matter which hand the ball is in, as long as the fielder touches the base with his foot or any part of his body before the runner touches the base.

I have a book on baseball trivia that I have been reading in this was in Chapter four of "Baffling Baseball Triva" By Dom Forker, Wayne Stewart & Michael Pellowski.

Answer 6

No. The player must have possession of the ball in the hand/glove that tags the runner,

Answer 7

According to all offical rule books from T-Ball to MLB the runner must be tagged out with the ball. If the ball is in the glove then it's the glove hand, if the ball is in the throwing hand then it's that one. If you're holding the ball in your throwing hand and tag the runner with your empty glove he is not out, and the same vice versa. Anyone who says otherwise is dead wrong and a complete idiot.

Answer 8

MLB: "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."

NCAA: "Tag: The action of a fielder in touching a base with any part of his body while holding the ball securely and firmly in the hand or glove or touching a runner with the ball or with the glove while holding the ball securely and firmly in that hand or glove."

So pretty much, you have to have the ball in the hand/glove that you are touching the player with when tagging the runner out.....unless it's a case where you can just touch the bag before the runner gets to the base (most commonly when a player is thrown out at first base before getting to first base after the hit).

Answer 9

The runner must be tagged by the BALL. Just because a player has the ball in his right hand, for example, doesn't mean he can be tagged by the glove and be out...The ball in the glove constitutes as being tagged by the ball.

Answer 10

Baseball Tag