Batting Out of Turn, Appeals and Other Rare Rules
How the batting-out-of-turn rule works, with worked examples, plus the appeal plays, time plays, protests and other rarely used rules that surprise fans when they finally come up.
Every batter in baseball bats in an order written on a lineup card and handed to the umpire before the game. Nobody expects a team to get it wrong, and when a team does, almost nobody in the ballpark knows what happens next. The rule for batting out of turn is one of the more unusual in the book, because it is a penalty that the umpire is not allowed to call on his own. The other team has to notice the mistake and ask for it, and the timing of the request decides everything.
That makes batting out of turn the cleanest example of an appeal play, a category of rule that works differently from the rest of the game. Most rules are enforced by the umpires the moment something happens. An appeal rule sits quietly until the defense raises its hand. This article explains the batting-out-of-turn rule step by step, then widens out to the other appeals, to the difference between an appeal and a protest, and to a handful of rarely used rules that every fan should know exists. The rule text used here follows the Official Baseball Rules as written in recent editions; section numbers shift between editions, so check the current rulebook on the MLB site for the exact wording.
What the lineup card does
Before the game each manager gives the umpire-in-chief a lineup card listing the hitters in order and the defensive position of each. The umpire gives each manager a copy of the other team's card, and from that moment the card is the official batting order. The order cannot be changed except by substitution. Each time a pinch hitter enters or a double switch is made, the new player takes the exact place in the batting order of the player he replaced.
The proper batter at any moment is the player whose turn comes next in that order, after the previous batter's plate appearance has ended. A batter is out of turn when someone other than the proper batter steps into the box. It can happen after a substitution, when a team loses track of who was replaced, or when a player simply walks up to the plate on the wrong turn.
The key rule is that nothing happens until the defense appeals. The umpire is not allowed to point out the error to anyone. He watches an improper batter step in and does not say a word, which sounds odd until the logic of the rule is clear.
Three situations, three outcomes
The rule has three branches, and which one applies depends on when the mistake is noticed.
The mistake is noticed while the wrong batter is still at bat. The proper batter may take his place and assume the ball-and-strike count. There is no penalty at all. If a runner has advanced on a stolen base, balk, wild pitch or passed ball while the improper batter was in the box, those advances stand. This is the best case for the offense: someone realizes the mistake after a pitch or two and sends the right man in.
The wrong batter finishes his turn, and the defense appeals in time. This is the case that fans talk about. If the improper batter has reached base or made an out, and the defense appeals to the umpire before the next pitch to the next batter of either team (or before any play or attempted play), the umpire declares the proper batter out. Anything the improper batter accomplished is wiped out: his hit, his walk and any runs or advances that came because of it. Runners return to the bases they occupied when the improper batter stepped in. Advances made earlier on stolen bases, balks, wild pitches or passed balls remain.
The wrong batter finishes his turn, and nobody appeals in time. Then the improper batter is treated as though he had batted in the right order all along. Everything that happened stands: his hit counts, the runs count, an out is an out. The next batter is the one whose name follows the improper batter's in the lineup. The player who was skipped does not bat out of turn to make up for it. He simply loses a turn, and the order picks up from where the improper batter left it.
The moment that closes the window is specific. The appeal must come before the first pitch to the next batter, or before any play or attempted play. So a defense that sees the problem has to speak up right away, and that is the reason this rule is a test of attention more than of knowledge.
Worked examples
The best way to see how the three branches work is with an invented lineup. Say a team bats Adams, Baker, Cruz, Davis and Evans, in that order. At some point in the game Adams is on first base with one out, and Baker is due up next.
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| Cruz steps in out of turn and the mistake is spotted at a 1-2 count | Baker takes over with the count at 1-2. No penalty. |
| Cruz doubles, Adams scores from first, and the defense appeals before the next pitch | Baker is declared out. The double and the run are wiped out, Adams goes back to first, and there are two outs. Cruz, whose name follows Baker's, bats again. |
| Cruz doubles, Adams scores from first, and the defense says nothing before the next pitch to Davis | Cruz is the proper batter after the fact. The run counts. The order continues: Davis, then Evans. Baker has lost his turn. |
| Cruz strikes out | The defense already has an out and usually has no reason to appeal. If it says nothing, Cruz's turn counts and Davis is next. |
Two features of this table strike people as strange. The first is that the proper batter, who did nothing but wait his turn, is the one called out. The rule treats the batting order as a responsibility of the team, and the player whose turn it was bears the cost. The second is that when the mistake is penalized, the improper batter comes up again. The next batter after the punished one is the one whose name follows his, and in the example that is Cruz, who bats again with the outs now increased.
Why the rule works the way it does
The design of the rule makes sense once you see the principle behind it. The batting order is the offense's obligation, and the defense is the one with a stake in enforcing it. Making the defense speak up gives the team that benefits from the error, or is hurt by it, control over whether to claim the penalty. The umpire stays neutral: if he announced that a batter was out of turn, he would be helping one team by revealing the other's mistake.
There is also a practical element. A batting-out-of-turn call can undo several things at once, such as a run, a runner's advance and an out, and the rule limits the window in which that can happen to a few seconds. Once the next pitch is thrown or the next play is made, the result is final. The structure rewards a defense that is paying attention and keeps the game from being rewritten innings later.
The consequence for managers is clear. A defensive manager who notices a batting-out-of-turn error should not use it unless the penalty is worth more than what the improper batter achieved. If the wrong batter made an out, the defense might choose not to appeal, since the out is already a good result for them. If the wrong batter hit a home run, the appeal can erase it. The choice is the defense's, and it is the reason the rule is also a strategic one.
Appeal plays in general
Batting out of turn is one of several appeal plays. The others involve baserunners.
Missing a base. A runner who fails to touch a base he passes can be put out, but only if the defense appeals. The umpire will not call it on his own. The defense can make a live-ball appeal by tagging the base or the runner with the ball during play. After the play is dead, a pitcher can step off the rubber and throw to the base, or a fielder can hold the ball on the base and ask the umpire for the call. The umpire then rules whether the runner touched the base.
Leaving a base too early on a caught fly ball. A runner must tag up and wait until the ball is first touched by a fielder before leaving to advance. If he leaves early, he can be put out on appeal at the base he left.
Failing to touch home plate. A runner who crosses the plate without touching it can be called out on appeal.
The time limit is the same idea as with the batting order. The appeal must be made before the next pitch or play, and at the end of an inning the defense loses the right to appeal once the pitcher and the infielders have left fair territory on their way off the field. Appeals on the last play of the game can be made until the umpires leave the field.
A refinement worth knowing is the time play. A run does not score if the third out of an inning is made by the batter-runner before he reaches first base, or by any runner forced out. If the third out is made another way, such as a tag on a runner who is not forced, a run that crossed the plate before the out counts. When a play at another base takes the third out and a runner is crossing the plate at about the same time, the umpire has to decide which came first, and that is what makes it a time play. It is one of the places where a run depends on a fraction of a second.
Appeal versus protest
Fans sometimes confuse an appeal with a protest. They are different tools.
An appeal is a request by the fielding team for the umpire to enforce a rule about something the offense did wrong. It is made on the field, in the moment, and the umpire decides on the spot.
A protest is a complaint by a manager that an umpire misapplied the rules. It has to be lodged with the crew chief at the time of the play, before the next pitch or, at the end of the game, before the umpires leave the field. The league office, not the umpires, decides it afterward. A protest can only be about an interpretation of the rules, never about a judgment call. Whether a runner was safe or out, a pitch was a ball or a strike, a ball was fair or foul: no manager can protest those. The only things that can be protested are decisions on which the rulebook was misread, such as a runner being sent back to the wrong base after a ruling that the rulebook did not support.
The most famous protest in the sport's history is the Pine Tar Game of July 24, 1983. George Brett of the Kansas City Royals hit a two-run home run off Rich "Goose" Gossage of the New York Yankees in the ninth inning, and the Yankees' manager, Billy Martin, pointed out that the pine tar on Brett's bat extended farther up the handle than the rules allowed. The rulebook limits pine tar to the bottom 18 inches of the bat. The umpires ruled the bat illegal and called Brett out, which ended the game. The Royals protested, and the American League president, Lee MacPhail, ruled that the penalty for the violation should have been removal of the bat from play, and not an out. The home run was restored, and the game was finished on a later date. MacPhail's reasoning was that the pine tar rule was meant to keep the ball from being discolored, and that the penalty it called for did not require wiping out a home run. The case is the classic example of how a protest, which asks whether the rules were applied correctly, differs from an argument about an umpire's judgment.
Other rarely used rules
A few other rules come up so seldom that the situations feel invented the first time they happen.
Passing a runner. A runner who passes a preceding runner on the bases is out. It can happen when a runner on first slows up because he thinks a fly ball will be caught, and the batter-runner overtakes him.
Running the bases in reverse. A runner who, after touching a base, runs back toward the previous base to confuse the fielders, or to make a travesty of the game, is out.
Coach assistance. A base coach who touches or holds a runner to physically help him leave or return to a base causes the runner to be called out. Coaches may talk, wave and point. They may not touch.
The switch-pitcher rule. A pitcher who can throw with either hand has to declare which hand he will use before he faces a batter, and he cannot change hands during that plate appearance. The batter can then choose which side to bat on. This rule, named after a well-known ambidextrous pitcher, exists because the original rulebook was written without the possibility in mind.
Checked-swing appeals. When the home plate umpire rules that a batter did not swing on a checked swing, the defense can ask him to appeal to the first or third base umpire, who has a better angle. The base umpire's call is final. It is the appeal that fans see most often in a modern game.
Forfeits. A game can be forfeited if a team refuses to play, delays the game, or cannot field nine players, or if the crowd prevents the game from continuing. The 1979 Disco Demolition promotion in Chicago ended with the second game of a White Sox doubleheader awarded to Detroit by forfeit, and in 1995 a Dodgers home game was forfeited to the Cardinals after fans threw balls onto the field. A forfeit is recorded as a 9-0 win for the other team.
If you want to see more situations like these, the rules and umpiring topic page collects them. The scoresheet tool shows how a lineup and a batting order are recorded.
Common questions
Can the umpire tell the manager that the wrong player is batting? No. The umpire is not allowed to call attention to the error. Only the defensive team can raise it.
What if the wrong batter hits a home run? If the defense appeals before the next pitch, the home run is wiped out and the proper batter is called out. If the defense does not appeal, the home run counts.
Who bats next after a penalty? The batter whose name follows that of the proper batter who was called out. In the common case, where the next man in the order stepped in early, that is the improper batter, who bats again.
Does the proper batter get a strike or a ball count when the mistake is found mid-at-bat? He takes over the count the improper batter had.
Is batting out of turn common? No. It is rare in the major leagues, where lineup cards and substitutions are checked carefully.
Where to go next
For other rules that surprise people, read about fair and foul balls, the three-foot lane and runner interference and the balk rule. To understand how disputes with umpires are handled, read about ejections and arguments and how umpires are trained and assigned.