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Base-Running

The moment the striker hits a fair ball he ceases to be the "striker," and becomes at once "a player running the bases," and he then becomes liable to be put out in the several ways alluded to under the head of "The Batsman," viz. by being "forced off" his base; by being "run out;" and by being put out in returning on a fly or foul ball. We will now illustrate more particularly the manner in which the base-runner can be thus put out. When, as above referred to, the striker has made his first base, and become a "base-runner," and he is occupying the first base when a fair ball is hit, the moment such a ball be struck that moment he ceases to have any right to occupy the first base, he being what is termed "forced off" by the batsman. In such case he must try and make his second base before the ball is held by a fielder on the base. If he fails to do this he is out. When occupying the first base, too, when a fair ball is hit and is held on the fly, he is required to return and touch the base before he can legally run for the next base; but the moment he has touched the base, after the catch has been made, he can then run for the next base. If, however, the ball that is hit be a foul ball, then he must not only return to the base he left when the ball was struck, but he must remain on it until the ball has been settled in the hands of the pitcher before he can again attempt to run to the next base. If at any time, too, when the ball is in play, he be caught off a base, and be touched by the ball in the hands of any fielder, he is also out. If, too, in running round the bases at any time he should fail to touch any of the bases, he must return and touch the base he failed to touch when first running round, and in such case, if the ball be held on the base before he can touch it, he is out; and he must also return to touch the base, in such case, the same way as he ran round, he not being allowed to cross over from home base to second, or from third to first. Base-runners should, however, remember that they have a right to return to the base they have left--except when "forced off" by the batsman--until they touch the next base; and no base-runner, occupying a base, can force another off the next base, unless he himself be forced off by the batsman, or by a base-runner who is forced off by the batsman. That is, a player occupying the second base, when there is no one on the first base, cannot force a base-runner off the third. When all the bases are occupied, and the batsman hits a fair bail which is not caught, then each base-runner is obliged to vacate the base he occupies and run to the next, and in this case all that is necessary to put either base-runner out, is simply for any fielder to hold the ball on the base the base-runner is trying to reach before the latter reaches it. It should be borne in mind that the moment the batsman is put out by a fair fly catch, or put out at first base, that moment the base-runners preceding him cease to be "forced" to have their bases, and in this case they must be touched by the ball, in the hands of a fielder, before they can be put out. Base-runners, too, when high balls are hit into the outer field, and in such way as to make a catch apparently certain, should stand on their bases in readiness to run to the next base the moment the ball is held by the out-fielder. When a base-runner is on the first base, and a high ball is "popped up," which looks as if it would surely be caught by the short-stop or pitcher, or indeed by any in-fielder, the base-runner has a double difficulty to escape from, inasmuch as, if the ball is caught on the fly, he has to return to the base he left when the ball was hit; but should the ball, instead, be purposely dropped before being held, he then becomes obliged to run for his second base, and is in such case liable to be easily put out from being forced off his first base. Either horn of the dilemma is bad, but the safest way generally is to anticipate the ball being caught, and to stand ready to get back to first base easily, as the effort to drop the ball for a double play is one not often successful. A base-runner, when on first base at a time when another is on the third, can safely run down to second, except where two hands are out, as the catcher in the former case sacrifices the one base to prevent the player on the third from getting a chance to run home. When two hands are out, however, it does not matter so much, as the catcher can far easier put the third hand out by a throw to second than can the base-runner at the third get home before the third hand be put out. In the position in a game when two hands are out and a base-runner is running home, the run he would otherwise make does not count, if the batsman be put out before he makes his first base; and neither does it count in such case, if the base-runner in question fails to touch the home base before the third hand is put out. Players who desire to become expert as base-runners should not only familiarise themselves with the theory of base-running by attentive study of the rules, but they must realize by practical experience all the points of play above alluded to before they can successfully exemplify their theoretical knowledge, or derive any advantage from it. It is one thing to be thoroughly acquainted with the manner in which any special object in view should be attained, but it is altogether a more difficult matter to practically illustrate your theory; and an afternoon's experience in running bases against a field of practical experts would soon show you the fallacy of trusting to thorough theoretical knowledge for success.