Toledo News-Bee, May 14, 1913:

ST. LOUIS, May 14.—(Special.)—During a ball game here a fly ball dropped within a few feet of a cow. Bossie beat the fielder to the sphere and gulped it down. The runner romped home.

I’ve (fairly hurriedly) scanned the current rulebook and don’t see any applicable rule that would make the ball dead if a cow eats it. Everything I’ve seen either refers to people or inanimate objects coming into contact with the ball. I think that makes this the right call.

Is there ...

We’re not in Sarkhan anymore!

The March 7 decision by Japanese baseball’s executive committee to drop the 3½-hour time limit on extra-inning games came as welcome news. We have observed the second anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, the subsequent tsunami and nuclear power plant problems that led to a period of setsuden (power-conservation measures).

In spite of the passing of the two-year mark, however, normalcy has not returned in some places. For example, ...

“Hey Rocky, watch me fake a throw to third and pick the runner off at first!”
“But that trick never works.”
“This time for sure! Presto!”

Balk on Bullwinkle, beginning in 2013:

Under a rule change imposed by Major League Baseball, pitchers will no longer be allowed to fake a pickoff to third base and throw to first as a way to dupe a runner on first base into breaking for second. Next season, that move would be a balk. Pitchers can still step off the rubber and fake to third.

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Jayson Stark reports on several potential rules changes that spun out of last week’s owners meetings. The most notable: coaches and managers will be able to bring an interpreter to the mound for meetings with players who don’t speak fluent English.

No word if Phillies pitchers will get their own English-to-1940s grifter interpreter for when Charlie Manuel comes out for pitching changes.  ”I don’t even know what ‘what’s the rumpus’ means,” said Cole Hamels, explaining his ...