RealGM

I've been thinking about this scenario for a while and if it was legal, and if any manager would dare try it: one of the major "issues" with having a right handed first baseman is that when he is holding on a runner, he would have to reach across his body when applying a tag, thus giving a slight advantage to said runner; but what if instead of holding on the runner like a natural lefty 1st baseman would, i.e. left foot straddling the line and right foot on the front right corner of the base, the right handed first baseman stood where his left foot was touching right rear corner of first base and his right foot would be straddling the line; thus eliminating the need to reach across his body to apply the tag. Would this alignment be legal? Thanks

Unless I misunderstood, the issue is the runner getting hit with the ball on his way back to the base, and then running to second while the right fielder comes in to pick it up.

As far as I'm aware this is legal although it has been a few years since I last umpired, as long as he is not interfering with the runner attempting to get back he can stand wherever he wants.

When pitchers are aggressively trying to nail the baserunner, don't they sometimes kind of aim to throw the ball where the bag is, so that all the 1B needs to do is reach down, catch it, and apply the tag?

Fairview4Life wrote:Unless I misunderstood, the issue is the runner getting hit with the ball on his way back to the base, and then running to second while the right fielder comes in to pick it up.

Fairview is correct. Essentially he would be standing behind the runner, and many pickoff attempts would end up hitting the runner, or would see the first basemen having to reach over the runner causing interference. Don't think this would work at all.