After a ground ball to the shortstop, the 1st baseman was pulled off bag toward home, but still had time to get back to bag. However, the first baseman instead tagged the runner with excessive force in the face. The first baseman should be ejected for malicious contact but is the runner then safe at first or does the out stand?
1 Answer
This scenario does not appear to be presented in the MLB Rulebook.
Since the act of tagging was successful, the batter would be out.
If the force of the tag warrants Unsportsmanlike Conduct, he would be ejected at the discretion of the umpires.