Reading the posts about fair / foul in the batter's box, and @uncdrew's post about the ball on the plate, made me wonder about a "Top X" of rules a catcher is mostly likely to encounter during a game.
Here's my initial list, in no particular order:
Here's my initial list, in no particular order:
- Home Plate is in fair territory. Why? b/c the back tip of the plate is what's used to determine the angle of the foul lines all the way through 1B/3B to the foul poles.
- You don't have to avoid the batter runner when fielding a bunt. (i.e. you're not penalized for being quicker out of the box than the batter!)
- The only time D3K is NOT in effect is when there's a runner on 1B with less than 2 outs.
- A foul tip is a live ball. If there's a runner stealing on the pitch, they do not have to return to the base to tag up (but feel free to throw them out when they think it's a dead ball and trot back to 1st).
- If an umpire calls/signals "Infield Fly", any runners still attempting to advance need to be tagged (there's no force b/c the batter is out).
- With the bases loaded - key difference b/w #'s 3 & 5: D3K - just step on home. IFR - runner must be tagged.