Welcome to the Flagstaff NABA webpage. We are underway with the 2009 Flagstaff NABA baseball summer season. Good luck to all the teams!

We have a new director, his name is Russell Bierman, his email address is russellbierman@yahoo.com and his Phone is 928-600-6350. Please contact Russell with any questions about the upcoming season.

If you are not on a team feel free to contact Russell. We occasionally have openings that you may fill.

Congratulations Curve on winning the 2008 Flagstaff Adult Baseball League!

The dirtbags put up one hell of a fight, but lost 13-14 in the bottom of the 9th inning.

We want to thank everyone that played in the 2008 season, it was a great success especially compared to the last few years. Keep telling everyone you know that plays about the league and out summer baseball will only get better!

Check out the final Standings from 2008!

There was some debate in the championship game. For those that may be concerned here is clarification on rules of baseball. NABA rules govern our league. The NABA rulebook is a supplement to the "Rules of Baseball" set by the National Baseball Congress. These rules are those that are used by MLB, therefore it is safe to use rules published for MLB as long as they are not modified by the NABA rulebook. We do NOT use 'high-school rules'.

The debate insued after the bases were loaded in the bottom of the 7th inning, tie game, with 1 out. A fly ball was hit to right field. The runner on third tagged and scored, however the runner on first was off the base and was thrown behind and called out, for not tagging up. The runner tagging from third scored prior to the out being made at first base. No debate was made by either team or umpire on the timing of the play. The umpires ruled that the out made at first was a force out, therefore nullifying the run scored. The run that scored would have won the game in walk off fashion. Immediately after the play occured the manager of the batting team protested that this was a timing play not a forceout.

As quoted from the official rules of mlb, which are derived from the Rules setforth by the National Baseball Congress a force play is defined below. Interestingly their rulebook clarifies the exact situation that we encountered.

Refer to this page for rule quoted below

A FORCE PLAY is a play in which a runner legally loses his right to occupy a base by reason of the batter becoming a runner.
Rule 2.00 (Force Play) Comment: Confusion regarding this play is removed by remembering that frequently the “force” situation is removed during the play. Example: Man on first, one out, ball hit sharply to first baseman who touches the bag and batter-runner is out. The force is removed at that moment and runner advancing to second must be tagged. If there had been a runner on third or second, and either of these runners scored before the tag-out at second, the run counts. Had the first baseman thrown to second and the ball then had been returned to first, the play at second was a force out, making two outs, and the return throw to first ahead of the runner would have made three outs. In that case, no run would score.
Example: Not a force out. One out. Runner on first and third. Batter flies out. Two out. Runner on third tags up and scores. Runner on first tries to retouch before throw from fielder reaches first baseman, but does not get back in time and is out. Three outs. If, in umpire’s judgment, the runner from third touched home before the ball was held at first base, the run counts.

Another clarification on protesting a call. Taken from the NABA rulebook page 25 regarding protests. And umpire stated a protest could not be filed after a play had occured, which is incorrect.

For any protest to be considered, the protest must have been filed according to the Official Rules of Baseball rule 4.19.
No protest will be considered unless it meets rule 4.19. The exception being protests involving ineligible players in
league play only. This exception will allow a protest to be filed up to 24 hours from the protested game’s start time. In
tournament play protests involving ineligible players must be protested immediately. Players questioned to be
ineligible must be asked to show identification at the protested game in question at the time of the protest.
Second, when notifying your League President of a protest, do not expect him to handle the problem on Sunday night.
Generally in protests, emotions are running high, and the NABA concern is for a fair, dispassionate hearing of the
protest, not a resolution within I hour of the protest being filed. Notify your League President on the phone that you
have filed a protest, then sit down and write out the play or decision you are protesting, the circumstances, obtain
some supporting viewpoints, and allow your League President time to investigate the protest. This involves talking
with umpires, the opposing manager, yourself and perhaps other witnesses as well.
Remember, according to the Official Rules of Baseball, RULE 4.19: "NO PROTEST SHALL BE PERMITTED ON
JUDGMENT DECISIONS BY THE UMPIRE. IN ALL PROTESTED GAMES, THE DECISION OF THE LEAGUE PRESIDENT IS
FINAL. EVEN IF IT IS HELD THAT THE PROTESTED DECISION VIOLATED THE RULES, NO REPLAY OF THE GAME
SHALL BE ORDERED UNLESS, IN THE OPINION OF THE LEAGUE PRESIDENT, THE VIOLATION ADVERSELY AFFECTED
THE PROTESTING TEAM’S CHANCES OF WINNING THE GAME."
PROTEST FEE:
A $100 dollar cash protest fee is to accompany the written protest. This fee will be returned to the
Protesting team if the decision is ruled in their favor. The protesting team shall forfeit the fee if the protest is denied.

In Conclusion, the game should have been ended upon the Curve scoring the run in the bottom of the seventh. A protest could have been filed and based upon their being a definitive correction to an incorrect interpretation of the rules as well as a definite end to the ruling as well as the game, could have been upheld resulting in a win for the Curve. Fortunately a rules interpretation was not needed.

Schedules:

• 2009 Baseball Schedule

NABA09: { ***Teams: [ Boilermakers | Curve | Dirtbags | Nationals | Tengu | Fratellis ***Locations: [Sinagua ] ***Standings}

Announcements:

Our 2009 season is here. Contact Russell for more info - see left side of the page.