Can't Steal First Base (1941)

[Dave Wilton]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> Of Laurence Horn
> Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 8:11 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Can't Steal First Base (1941)
>
> At 8:29 PM -0700 9/4/02, Dave Wilton wrote:
> >Stolen bases aren't
> >awarded in cases of fielder error, wild pitch, or passed
> ball, so the batter
> >doesn't get one. In the unlikely event the batter manages to
> make it to
> >second base without being tagged, he is awarded a stolen
> base for second,
>
> Are you sure of this?  I'm willing to bet a batter can never get a
> stolen base for anything that happens during his time at bat.  He
> would thus have to first reach first base and stay there, and then on
> another pitch steal second.

You're right. I was misreading the rule about an error made in an attempt to
throw out a stealing runner. In that case, the initial base advanced is
charged to the error and subsequent bases as stolen. But it doesn't apply to
the batter-runner.