Overthrow out of play: one base or two?

Pickoff throw to first. It sails over the first baseman and into the fenced-off area by the dugout. Your runner was standing on first. The other coach wants him on third, you want him on second, and the umpire says second.

Two innings later, there’s a ground ball to short and the same throw into the same fence. Now the umpire says third. Both of those calls are right, and I understand why that drives people crazy. How can the same fence give two different answers?

Nothing happens unless the ball goes out of play. An overthrow that stays on the field is just a live ball with no award. The runner takes whatever he can get and risks whatever he risks. The rules only step in when the ball leaves the field. That means the dugout, over the fence, into the stands, under the tarp or into the dead-ball area past the backstop.

A pitch that gets past the catcher and goes out of play is one base. So is a pickoff thrown from the rubber that goes out of play. In my experience, these are the overthrows you’ll see most in youth ball. It’s one base for every runner from where he stood at the pitch. The pitcher on the rubber is treated as a pitcher, not a fielder.

A throw by any fielder that goes out of play is two bases — the shortstop’s throw to first, the catcher’s throw to second or the outfielder’s throw home. And once the pitcher has stepped off the rubber, he’s a fielder too. If he steps off and throws it into the dugout, it’s two.

Where you count from is the part most of us get wrong. It depends on the throw…

• First play by an infielder: two bases from where the runners were when the pitch was thrown. The batter gets second. The runner on first gets third, even if he was standing on second when the throw went in. There’s one exception. If every runner, including the batter, had already moved up a base by the time the throw was made, you count from the throw instead.
• Any other throw: two bases from where each runner was when the ball left the fielder’s hand. That includes an outfielder’s throw, a relay and an infielder’s throw after an earlier play on the same ball. A runner between bases is counted from the last base he touched.

You may also hear someone call it “one plus one.” That’s a tournament myth (someone heard “the base he was going to, plus one” and passed it on). It gets the right answer sometimes, which is why it survives, but it isn’t the rule.

The next time a throw goes over the fence, will you know where your runners were when the pitch was thrown?