Runners on 1st & third. Batter hits ball to outfield. Runner on third heads home. Throw from outfield to catcher hits the on deck batter who was retrieving the bat in foul territory.
What rule covers a dead ball call & status of base runners?

Larrys.. there is no particular rule that covers this scenario.. the on deck batter should not be retrieving the bat.. he belongs in/near the on deck circle.. I would have a dead ball and if in my judgment he was in the field of play and interfered with the throw which in your scenario it sounds like he did I would have the runner going home out

B.J.

Not nearly enough information to go on here. First off, how many fields actually have on deck circles? Secondly, we don't know where the on deck batter was last I checked the on deck circle when actually provided are in foul territory. To my understanding of the rule the on deck batter "could" be called for interference if he INTENTIONALLY interfered with the thrown ball. If it was intentional then the runner closest to home would be called out. If it was accidental then play continues and runners can advance at their own risk. The other thing to consider here is it's also the on deck batters to clear the batters bat from the field of play while the play is going on.

There needs to be more clarification from Larry S on where the throw originated from, where it was touched and did it appear to be intentional or not. Without intent I'm ruling dead ball and runners would be determined by location on the field when ball was touched.

John.. I just answered with what info I had.. you are correct there are normally no ondeck circles drawn BUT the batters usually know they need to be way off to the side near their dugout..in fact in every game I umpire I give a pregame warning to MGR's to keep ODbatters out of the way especially on the 3B side..

in the scenario it says the ODbatter came out too retrieve the bat "WHICH IS NOT HIS JOB" he's suppose to stay out of the way near his dugout .. I need you to cite the rule stating the ODbatter should pick up a bat (that is WRONG).. in most cases I usually see the catcher bend over and toss the bat out of the way if he has time .. and in this scenario it stated the ball was hit to the outfield..

It was unintentional/accidental. There was no on deck circle. He picked up bat in foul territory.

Larry S

You have stated a few times now "foul territory". Foul territory is a BIG area, where was the throw coming from? Where was the player/bat when it was being retrieved? It could be the 1B side halfway up the line and the throw was coming from LF. These are all big parts of the missing information.

The throw was coming from the first baseman relayed from right field.The first baseman was between where the first baseman and second baseman usually play. The on deck batter was just inside the 1st base line in foul territory.

as i stated above it's not the batters job to be picking up the discarded bat.. ESPECIALLY since it was just inside the 1st base line .. the batter should have remained in the on deck AREA which is normally about 20/25feet away from the base line ..

John you forgot to cite the rule stating that it's the on-deck batters job to clear the batters bat from the field of play while the play is going on.

BJ,

First off, I never once said it was a RULE for the on deck batter to get the bat. Secondly, where in the hell are you umpiring that the on deck circle is 20-25 from the baseline. I've been playing and umping this game a damn long time and unless you're playing on College or Pro fields there is maybe 1% chance that you have more than 10-12' between foul line and dugout fencing. Without knowing where the bat was up the baseline I'm still not ruling Interference. If the bat was right by the batters box I can see it "possibly" having the chance of being interference but as Larry S said it wasn't intentional and I'm certainly not calling interference on a badly thrown ball from halfway between 1B and 2B to home as interference unless the bat was right near the batters box.

john.. since i stopped traveling I mostly umpire now in The Villages Fla. and yes are fences are at least 20 ft. from the base line and yes we do have on deck circles that are about 15 ft from base line .. and per Larry's answer for the bat position and the on deck batter he said bat and ODbatter were JUST inside the foul line in foul territory WHERE HE DOES NOT BELONG.. so a throw coming in from the right side of the infield even if it was a bit in foul territory it doesn't mean that the catcher couldn't stretch out or even take a step to make the catch..

bottom line to this whole problem was that the ODbatter would not have and could not have interfered with the throw if he was standing in his on deck circle/area where he belonged.. btw you posted about the INT. was not intentional.. the act of Int. does not have to be intentional..