MLB Makes Several Rule Changes for the 2007 Season
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Major League Baseball announced on Friday several rule changes to take effect in the 2007 season. These changes constituted the first amend-ments to the rules since 1996.
Major League Baseball, in it’s Friday press release stated;
A substantial number of changes made to the Official Baseball Rules by the Playing Rules Committee will be in effect at the Major League level during the 2007 season, it was announced today.
Among the changes is a modification to the Rule regarding regulation tie games. The Rules had provided that a game that is called with the score tied in the bottom of the fifth inning or later is a tie game, to be replayed in its entirety, though player statistics count. In accordance with a unanimous recommendation from the Major League General Managers at their 2005 meetings, the Rule has been changed so that a tied regulation game that is stopped now will be suspended and resumed before the next scheduled game between the same two clubs on the same grounds (or, before the next scheduled game at the visiting club’s grounds, if no more games remain at the original club’s home park); only if no scheduled games remain between the two clubs would the game be a called, tie game, in which case it would be replayed in its entirety only if necessary to affect a playoff spot.
The Playing Rules Committee also extensively revised Official Baseball Rule 10, which concerns official scorers and scoring rules, acting upon recommendations of an ad hoc advisory committee comprised of official scorers, Club personnel and Major League Baseball staff. Among the changes relating to official scoring are:
• a new definition of “ordinary effort” to guide scorers in making determinations on hits, errors and other rulings;
• the addition of many casebook comments to guide official scorers;
• the codification of an appeal process of official scorer decisions; and • a reorganization of certain scoring rules.
MLB.com’s Tom Singer gives more specific details on the rule changes;
Potentially most consequential is the manner in which games that end in a tie, due to weather or other uncontrollable elements, will be resolved. While previously such games were considered official and replayed in their entirety from the beginning, hence they will be “suspended” and resumed at the point of stoppage.
The treatment of tie games could be quite consequential. Not because tie games have been so prevalent in the past; occasionally, players have logged 163-game seasons due to an official tie, and there have been three ties in pre-1930 World Series games halted by darkness.
The revised rule will perhaps permit umpires to react more decisively to adverse conditions, knowing that halting a tie game will not force managers to invent pitching for an unexpected extra game.
“The general managers questioned whether it was good policy to replay games,” Burns said, “and asked, ‘Why not just pick up where they stopped?’ This will keep managers from having to use their entire bullpen to cover for an additional game.”
Tie games will resume prior to the next scheduled game between the teams, in the visitors’ park if no more games are scheduled at the same site. If no more games are scheduled between the teams, the tie would stand unless an outcome would decide a playoff spot — in which case the game would be replayed in its entirety.
At the very least, the revisions and clarifying examples included in the rule book will enable umpires at all levels to conduct games according to a uniform set of rules.
Addressing issues relating to the pacing of games, fair play — and even the fairer sex — other rule changes highlight:
• Time between pitches: The allotment for delivering the ball with no one on base has been reduced, from 20 seconds to 12. The price for each violation is a ball.
• Batter’s box presence: Conversely, an automatic strike will be assessed each time a batter violates the rule requiring they keep one foot in the batter’s box throughout his at-bat, except for certain game-play conditions — during which he is still not allowed to leave the dirt area surrounding the plate.
• Ball scuffing: Rule 3.02 now calls for an automatic 10-game suspension for any player who intentionally defaces the ball. (Previously, a first offense led to the pitch being called a ball, a warning to the pitcher and an announcement of violation.)
• No reason for rosin: The same Rule 3.02 now specifically prohibits placing “soil, rosin, paraffin, licorice, sandpaper, emery paper or other foreign substance” on the ball. The rule’s penalty phase dictates, “The umpire shall demand the ball and remove the offender from the game. In addition, the offender shall be suspended automatically for 10 games.”
• Gender objectivity: The rulebook now includes the disclaimer that references “to ‘he,’ ‘him’ or ‘his’ shall be deemed to be a reference to ’she,’ ‘her’ or ‘hers’” where applicable.
As I recall, it would seem that the rule change enabling suspended
games to be picked up from the pont where it was suspended either the next day or at a later date is a reversion to the rules as they were up until sometime in the 1960s. Searches thus far have failed locate when the rule changed to what had been in force through last season.
Regarding the new rules about use of the rozin bag and use of foreign substances on the ball, specifically the 8.02(a)(2) rule change regarding scuffing or soiling the ball, a question arises as to whether the rule change and penalties extend certain types of other applications on the pitcher’s hands, i.e. whatever the discoloration was on Kenny Rogers’ pitching hand during his winning start in game 2 of last season’s World Series.
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