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Inbaseball andsoftball, atag out, sometimes just called atag, is a play in which a baserunner isout because a fielder touches him with the ball or with the hand or glove holding the ball, while the ball islive and the runner is in jeopardy of being put out (usually when he is not touching a base).
A baserunner isin jeopardy when any of the following are true:
A tag is therefore the most common way to retire baserunners who are not in danger of beingforced out, though a forced runner may also be tagged out in lieu of stepping on the forced base. Additionally, a tag out can be used on anappeal play.
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Runners attempting to advance are sometimesthrown out, which means that a fielder throws the ball to someonecovering the base, who then tags the runner before he touches the base. A runner who leads off a base (advances before the pitch is thrown) too far might bepicked off; that is, the pitcher throws to a fielder covering the base, who then tags the runner out.
When a runner is tagged out, a further advanced runner who had beenforced to advance no longer has to do so. For example, when a sharply hit ball is caught on one hop by the first baseman, he might immediately tag out the runner at first who is forced to advance to second, but when this is done, a runner already at second is no longer forced to advance to third base. The result of such a tag is called "removing the force".
When an attempt to tag a baserunner has been initiated by a fielder in possession of the ball, then an imaginarybase path is formed which is 3 feet (0.91 m) wide, extending from the runner to the base that the runner is trying to reach safely. If the runner steps outside of the base path, then they are automatically out. However, if a defensive player tags the runner with his glove and the baseball is in his other hand, or with his free hand while the baseball is in his glove, then the runner is not out.[1] Also, if the fielder drops the ball after the tag, the runner is safe.[2]
Inhistorical variations of baseball, runners could be retired if the ball was thrown directly at them while they were not on a base, a practice referred to as "soaking" or "plugging".[3] The 1845Knickerbocker Rules were one of the major early codifications of baseball which banned soaking and mandated tagging instead, allowing for harder baseballs to be used.[4]
