Appeal plays are baseball’s answer to football’s challenge flag
I leave it to the late-great comedian George Carlin to hilariously spout off the differences between baseball and football. Since the two are overlap their seasons by two months,I am often watching some football along with playoff baseball which is a lot to keep up with! One thing is common between the two and that is fans having problems with officiating.
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Challenging Plays in Football and Baseball
American Football challenges are much more demonstrative than baseball challenges. Throwing down something like the little red bag is something MLB should adopt. You could see it flying out of the dugout and then everyone would know the play is being challenged. Maybe a different color than red. But there’s another baseball challenge that’s been around for years that few fans really understand.
A listing of ’appeal’ plays in baseball is apparently not available and from what I have been able to determine not even tracked or tabulated. Even when appeal plays do happen, they are one of the least exciting things to watch on a baseball field.
A strange appeal play this past season:
The Padres and Rockies played at Petco on Aug. 4, 2024. In the top of the third, Ezequiel Tovar was batting facing Matt Waldron with Aaron Schunk on first base. Tovar hit a pop fly that was caught in foul territory by first baseman Luis Arraez.
Schunk was running with the pitch. He was deked by second baseman Jake Cronenworth, who made it look like he was about to make a catch and tag. Schunk slid into second base. When he realized there was no play at second, he returned to first but failed to retouch second base. The Padres appealed from the mound. The throw went from Waldron to Cronenworth and Schunk was called out by umpire Larry Vanover. https://baseballrulesacademy.com/runner-appeal-2024/. Pretty unexciting wouldn’t you say?
Defining the appeal play
Appeals must be made before the next pitch or attempted play, or before the entire defensive team has left fair territory if the play in question resulted in the end of a half-inning. One appeal can be made on each runner at each base if there were multiple infractions. * From Wikipedia
A runner shall be called out after a successful live ball appeal, if he:
- failed to tag up on a batted ball caught in-flight,
- failed to touch a base the last time he passed it, or
- failed to touch all previous bases in order
To properly execute a live ball appeal, a fielder must, with a live ball, tag the runner or base in question and communicate to the umpire what the infraction was and which runner committed the infraction. Such communication may be non-verbal, implicit, or assumed — so long as the intent of the fielder is clear to the umpire.
Contrary to popular belief, an appeal out is not a force out unless it is regarding a missed forced base. For example, if a runner from third base tags and scores, but a runner from second base leaves too early, failing to tag up, and then is put out on the appeal, the run counts if it was scored before the appeal by the fielders. Rare situations with a viable appeal on a runner who misses his forced base require the umpire to recognize an apparent fourth out.
Batting out of turn
A member of the defensive team may appeal to the umpire when a batter bats out of turn. The umpire then enforces the penalty for batting out of turn, if any. The ball must be live for this as for any appeal. After the appeal is made, the umpire will usually signal “Time” and figure out whether the appeal is successful.
If you want to go deeper into the weeds you can read about this BOOT (batting out of turn) incident from 79 years ago.
Appealing if a batter swung
There are also regular appeals on swings by the batter. It is the most frequent appeal play. Those appeals are made to the first or third base umpires depending on from which side the batter is swinging.
When a batted ball becomes unplayable
An appeal may be executed if a fair ball becomes dead by leaving the playing field or becoming unplayable (home run, ground rule double), wild throw into stands/dugout, stuck in or under fence, drunk fan runs onto the field and steals the ball, etc.) if the defense believes a baserunner failed to touch a base before touching the next base to which he is entitled.
For example, if the batter hits a ball which goes over the outfield fence in fair territory (whether a home run or ground rule double) but fails to touch first base before touching second base, he may not return to first base to correct his mistake once he has touched second, and he is out at first base if the defensive team appeals. In such a case, the plate umpire would put a new ball in play, and after the ball became live by rule, the defense could appeal the missed base. Again, the ball must be live.
Does an appeal ever lead to a team winning a game they otherwise would have lost?
Did the Yankees-Royals July 24, 1983 ‘Pine-Tar’ game come to mind? When George Brett hit an apparent go-ahead two-run home run in the top of the 9th? The Yankees Billy Martin appealed that Brett had too much pine tar on his bat and the home run was illegal. The Yankees apparently had used an appeal play to win 4–3. The Royals protested the game, and the protest was upheld by AL President Lee McPhail. The game was resumed 25 days later with Brett being ejected for his outburst, but the Royals held on for a 5–4 win. That one does not qualify.
But I did find one from 2022! As I noted there is no place where a litany of appeal plays exists and you need to dig deep for them, If you’re crazy like me.
The Pirates won 8–7 vs. the Nationals on June 28, 2022. In the fifth inning with Bucs runners on second (Hoy Park) and third with one out Jack Suwinski scampered home from third on a line-drive out to the Nat’s then first baseman Josh Bell who then threw to third to nab Park to complete what looked like an inning ending double play. The problem was that Suwinski did not tag up. The Nats thinking the inning was over and no run scored, ran off the field and in-so doing, they forfeited their chance for an appeal which would have been granted. The run for the Pirates counted!
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Will an appeal play make a critical difference in this year’s playoffs? Appeal plays in baseball are a part of the game that make baseball the unique and wonderful sport that it is! But you must watch closely!
About the Author: Mark Kolier along with his son Gordon co-hosts a baseball podcast called ‘Almost Cooperstown’. He also has written baseball-related articles that can be accessed on Medium.com and Substack.com.
