jumping over the catcher

Question
During a recent Babe Ruth Baseball game the home team was down by 1 with a man on third and 2 outs.  The runner attempted to steal home.  The catcher was about 3 feet up tbhe third base line so the runner jumped over him and touched home plate without being tagged.  The rulling on the field was that the runner was out because he jumped over the catcher.  Was this the correct ruling?  Thanks

Answer
John,

I have seen this happen before.  In most league type play, even at that age level, there will be a mandatory slide rule at home plate.  That is enforced to protect the catcher from being run over on a play at the plate.  While there may not be a mandatory slide rule, the umpire in this instance enforced that type of a rule.  I understand that the runner did not knock the catcher down, but he also did not attempt a slide and the act of going over the catcher put the catcher in danger in the eyes of the umpire, so he called him out.

Obviously in MLB this would not be an out.  In college it would not be an out.  By the letter of the rules in high school this would not be an out, but I have seen it called in high school as an out before.  Part of the umpires job is to provide some protection for the players and in this case, he must have felt he was protecting him, OR, there is a slide rule in your league.

Regardless, this is baseball and right or wrong, once a call is made, it stands.  That is a part of baseball that is great, and horrible.  It just depends on which side of the call you are on.

Coach Boss