Major League Baseball: The Play at the Plate

Just two months into the Major League baseball season, Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton and San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey have been injured in separate incidents at home plate. One on offense. The other on defense. Hamilton broke his arm while trying to score by sliding, or diving head first into home against the Detroit Tigers in April. Posey broke his leg and tore up his ankle while blocking the plate during a collision with Florida Marlin Scott Cousins. Both will miss significant playing time with Posey all but ruled out for the season.

The injuries to Hamilton and Posey have raised many questions in baseball circles as to what base runners and catchers should do to avoid injury on plays at the plate.

When should base runners come in standing? When should they slide? Should they slide feet first or dive head first with arms extended? Shoud a base runner be allowed to come in standing if the catcher has the ball and is blocking the plate?

Should a catcher block home plate? If so when and how? How should they make the tag?

As a man who has seen it from both sides I think that I can speak on this subject. I have been the base runner trying to score by sliding. I have been the base runner who has tried to run over the catcher. I have been the catcher who has blocked home plate.

When I played youth baseball, it was not against the rules for a base runner to try and run over the catcher. When I got to high school it was. In college it wasn't. Now, it is not allowed at all levels except the pros. The recent injuries to stars like Posey and Cleveland Indians catcher Carlos Santana, who broke his leg blocking the plate against Ryan Kalish of the Boston Red Sox in 2010, has started a movement to make it illegal for base runners to cause a collision at home plate.

The first time that I can recall seeing a major league base runner run over a catcher blocking the plate was the famous Pete Rose-Ray Fosse collision at the end ofthe 1970 all-star game. With the score tied in the bottom of the 12th inning, Cincinnati Red Pete Rose collided with Detroit Tigers catcher Ray Fosse at home plate to score the winning run for the National League in a 5-4 victory. Not only did Rose score the winning run, but he injured Fosse's shoulder. An injury that many feel ruined Fosse's career.

Rose is also the first player that I recall diving head first into home. Besides Rose, every base runner that I recall would either slide feet first or come in standing up. They would not run directly into the catcher, but try to beat him across the plate. One of the most famous plays in World Series history is a game five play at the plate in 1968 when St. Louis Cardinal base runner Lou Brock failed to slide while crossing home and was tagged out by Detroit catcher Bill Freehan. A play in which Brock and the Cardinals still dispute to this day.

When playing youth baseball I was never told how to approach crossing home plate. But I only tried to run over the catcher once and failed as he held onto the ball and we lost the game. I vowed from then on that if I couldn't beat the throw to home than I was staying at third unless it was a suicide squeeze play when I knew that the bunt was being layed down and I was running on the pitch. And if that was the case, I was going to always slide feet first to avoid an injury to my kneck.

This is the way that I taught my kids when coaching youth baseball. No home plate collisions, which are illegal. And no head first slides or dives to avoid injury. Here in Maryland we had a promising young athlete dive head first into home plate back in the 1990's. He ended up breaking his kneck and being paralyzed from the waist down after running into the catchers legs. So no head first dives for my kids at home plate. And if I were a major league manager than I would ban my players from diving head first, also. Even if I do feel that it is easier to score this way than feet first. I'd rather my runner be thrown out and cut down on the risk of injury.

Today, I went to the Philadelphia Phillies-Washington Nationals game at Nats Park. There were two plays at the plate. Both Roger Bernadina of the Nats and John Mayberry of the Phillies slid feet first. Bernadina scored and Mayberry did not. In both instances the catchers, Carlos Ruiz of the Phillies and the Nationals Wilson Ramos, blocked the plate and no one was injured. It was good, clean baseball.

As for the catchers side of it, when I played the position I never gave a thought to being run over by the base runner whether it was legal or not. If I had the ball, I always blocked the plate. I did not do this once when I was 14 and my manager Mr. Estep, whom I mentioned in "Baseball: My Childhood Little League Experience", told me that if I had than the runner wouldn't have scored. In that same game we had another play at the plate. I blocked the plate. I lost a toenail, but the runner didn't score.

As mentioned earlier, besides Pete Rose, most of the runners that I saw in the majors either slid into home feet first or went in standing while trying to avoid the tag. This determined what the catcher did as well. Before catchers like Cincinnati's Johnny Bench began to use their mitts and swipe tag the runner, it was common for them to catch the ball in the mitt, take it out of their glove and make the tag with the ball in their bare hand. I have an old video of hall of fame Brooklyn Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella doing this and clotheslining New York Yankee Billy Martin. Then there is the famous play at the plate in the 1970 World Series when Baltimore Orioles catcher Elrod Hendricks put the ball in his bare hand but tagged Cininnati's Bernie Carbo with an empty glove. Carbo was called out by home plate umpire Ken Burkhart who was out of position and saw none of it.

As a catcher who played during the Bench years, if I couldn't block the plate than I was told to sweep tag. If I could block the plate than I was told to tag the runner with both hands on the ball. If there was a collision, I tagged with both hands on the ball. My older coaches told me to tag with the ball in my bare hands. The younger ones said to tag with my mitt.

The play at the plate happens so fast for a catcher that it hardly gives him time to decide whether to block the plate or not. It's all instinct. Most of the time instinct tells them to block the plate if they feel that the ball will get there before the runner. As they should. If there is a collision than they will just have to suffer the consequences. Most injuries to catchers on plays at the plate occur when the catcher is reaching for the ball up the first base line or it is a low throw. So I suggest that if you have to reach for the ball than, you should use the sweep tag and not block the plate. If the throw is low than you have to move up to try and catch it in the air and, once again sweep tag. If you can catch the ball square and see the base runner than block home plate.

As for tagging the runner, everyone does it with both hands now. With base runners being bigger and stronger a catcher almost does not have a choice. Tagging the runner with two hands on the ball also allows the catcher to brace himself for the hit and dish out a little punishement of his own.

As long as the rules allow it, home plate collisions are going to happen. Players play for keeps in the majors and runs are hard to come by. So a base runner will do whatever it takes to score. And a catcher who doesn't block the plate will be out of a job on most teams. So injuries will occur.

But a base runner does not always have to come in standing up just as they do not have to dive head first. And a catcher does not always have to block the plate. Sometimes you have to live to fight another day.

Sometimes you just have to avoid the collision.

Sources:

cbslocal.com

athomeplate.com

mlb.com

sfgate.com