Doing Away with the Hard Slides

Tsuyoshi Nishioka was playing in his sixth professional MLB game, as a member of the Minnesota Twins, when he was injured in a hard slide from New York Yankee Nick Swisher. In a successful effort to prevent a double play, Swisher slide hard at the legs of Nishioka in order to force a wayward throw. What Swisher also did slide right into Nishioka’s left leg, breaking the fibula, and the second baseman has been on the disabled list ever since.

Nick Swisher, 33, breaks the leg of Twins 2B Tsuyoshi Nishioka on a hard slide.

Jayson Nix came to the Toronto Blue Jays from the Cleveland Indians in exchange for ‘cash considerations’. That doesn’t sound like the makings of a superstar baseball player, and Nix isn’t a star. What he is, however, is a good utility player and journeyman on his fourth team in as many years. This season, Nix finally found himself as a regular day starter after strong performances at third base in the first month. With injuries present in the Jays’ infield, Nix was moved to second base for a game versus the Tampa Rays. During a routine double-play ball, the Rays’ base-runner slide legs up and cleated Nix on the shin. The runner was successful in preventing the double play, and Nix went off injured with a left knee contusion, and onto the 15-day disabled list. When he comes back, who knows if his starting spot is still there for him?

Neither Nishioka nor Nix blame their opponents for their aggressive play. A hard slide is considered to be a regular part of baseball, and these two players were just unlucky. Baseball, however, is not a contact sport in comparison with hockey or football. Though there is the occasional home-plate collision or hit-by-pitch, players are not meant to run over opponents. The hard slide is meant for runners to help out their teammates at bat, who did not do their job well in hitting into a potential double-play. In order to protect the defenseless second basemen (or shortstops), who have to catch and throw a ball while avoiding spikes up at their shins, the Major League would be smart do away with permitting aggressive slides intending to injure.

As no player or manager has really spoken up against the aggressive slide, one would assume that it’s not that big of a deal. Tsuyoshi Nishioka didn’t think that Swisher’s slide was unfair, nor did Jayson Nix complain about Sean Rodriguez spiking him in the legs. Blue Jays manager John Farrell spoke up briefly against the play. "It was a hard slide, obviously. [Rodriguez] did hit the dirt. But it was a late slide. It wasn't like he jumped in mid-air to take him out of the play. But it was a late slide." Despite this, Farrell has not complained about the rule permitting such aggressive play.

The rule states that a player can slide in an aggressive fashion so long as he is within touching distance of the base. This leads to baserunners gunning straight for defenseless infielders’ legs, an arm’s length to the side of the base; with no chance of being safe, these runners are trying to at least prevent another out. The player at second base is the only victim.

Chase Utley, 26, avoids the bag to take out the man.

Rules should be put in place that aggressive sliding is permitted, so long as the runner is in the direct path towards the base. No fans of baseball will reminisce about the good-old-days with hard slides, nor will the casual fan complain about baseball not being ‘tough’ enough. Besides, a baseball fan would be more disappointed to see their starting second baseman on the bench, because a rule permitting reckless slides has resulted in a month-long injury. Imagine if the list of injured above had any recognizable names. I’d hate to miss seeing a superstar play because of some avoidable injury like this.

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