Is This A New Rule?

Posted on June 7, 2006 by Gaius

Not being a baseball fan at all, since I subscribe to the notion that baseball is 15 minutes of action crammed into a three hour game, I have no idea if this is actually in the rule book or not. During a baseball game, a seagull swooped between the pitcher and the batter with some really, really bad timing.

The ball hit the bird. The batter swung at the ball and missed. The ball got away from the catcher. Since it was a third strike, the batter ran to first but was thrown out by the catcher to end the inning.

The bird flew away, later, by the way. Here's the part that I don't know the answer to:

The umps ruled that play should have stopped the moment the ball hit the bird. Durham was sent back on to the field, and the Buffalo batter returned to the plate to finish his at-bat.

So, is this a seagull rule single? A seagull mulligan? What do you call this?

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6 Responses to Is This A New Rule?

  1. Quilly Mammoth says:
    June 7, 2006 at 12:12 pm

    It is a ruled a “no pitch”, similar to a “dead ball” caused by “weak interferance”. Just as if a fan had reached out and touched a ball in play the game stops. The specific rule is that if an object or animal crosses between the pitcher or home before or during the pitch it is ruled a “no pitch” or as we said as kids …a do-over.

    The precedent for this was in 2001 when Randy Johnson threw a pitch and hit a dove that had been released in the pregame festivities. The bird pretty much exploded. The video was quite impressive and might still be on the web somewhere.

  2. Gaius says:
    June 7, 2006 at 12:23 pm

    I like seagull mulligan! (Which sounds suspiciously like a food dish!)

    Pigeons (doves are just fancy ones) always explode when hit – they have loose feathers. I’ve blipped a few with my car over the years – they aren’t real smart about getting out of the way at times.

  3. Blackhawk says:
    June 7, 2006 at 7:23 pm

    Pigeons pretty much explode when I tag em as well…must be the 12 gauge.

    I seem to remember this rule also applies even if the batter hits the ball and the ball then hits a bird. I think that happened a few years ago…possibly in Wrigley.

  4. Gaius says:
    June 7, 2006 at 7:47 pm

    That’ll do it.

  5. BubbaB says:
    June 8, 2006 at 3:20 pm

    http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2001/0325/1161522.html has the video of Randy Johnson hitting the dove, although I can’t seem to get it to work (I’m missing a codec?!?!)

    —BubbaB

  6. Gaius says:
    June 8, 2006 at 4:31 pm

    Doesn’t work for me either.