New season, new rule

Among the new things baseball has to offer, is rule 7.13 that prohibits  fielders from blocking bases without possessing the ball.  The emphasis in 7.13 is on home plate, in an attempt to prevent Buster Posey type injuries.  While so-called purists say that the home plate collision is part of baseball, why should it be?  Why should a player who is doomed to be out be able to avoid that by smashing into the catcher, a la Pete rose crashing into Ray Fosse in the annual All Star exhibition game?  (Before Bud Selig stupidly decided the game should count.)

The same purists would argue that players will suddenly have to learn different ways to approach the play, which, for a short time, will be true.  However, for players coming out of high school and college there is no new learning.  Such collisions have been prohibited for years, and blocking the plate has been addressed in essentially the same language as newly adopted by MLB.

For the exact wording, check out MLB's website:  http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140224&content_id=68268622&vkey=pr_mlb&c_id=mlb

The following is a sequence of shots at NBT Stadium in Syracuse in a game vs. Scranton Wilkes- Barre.

The catcher provides access to the plate until he has the ball in his glove.  Once he catches the ball he LEGALLY blocks the plate.  The runner LEGALLY slides into the catcher and is tagged out.  Note that the umpire does not make the call until he is sure the catcher has held onto the ball.  Because the runner slid LEGALLY into the catcher, if the catcher had dropped the ball the runner would have been called safe.