LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — During his 13-year careeras an All-Star catcher, Mike Scioscia
earned a reputation for being astough as anyone when it came to blocking home plate.But in a sport filled
with nostalgia, even Scioscia wouldn’t mind seeing a few modifications."Ithink everyone is in agreement
that the mindless collisions at homeplate where a catcher is being targeted by a runner, that needs to
beaddressed," the Los Angeles Angels manager said."When I wasgrowing up as a kid in Philadelphia,
it was a badge of honor. You wereexpected to hang in at the plate, and the runner was expected to
doeverything he could to tag the plate. We’re going back 40 years ago, butthe mindset has changed a
bit."Major League Baseball said Wednesday it intends to eliminate home plate collisions by 2015 at the
latest.Not everyone is pleased.Pete Rose, who famously flattened Ray Fosse to score the winning run in the
1970 All-Star game, was bowled over."Whatare they going to do next, you can’t break up a double
play?" Rose saidin a telephone interview with The Associated Press after MLB announcedits plan
Wednesday."You’re not allowed to pitch inside. Thehitters wear more armor than the Humvees in
Afghanistan. Now you’re notallowed to try to be safe at home plate?" Rose said. "What’s the
gamecoming to? Evidently the guys making all these rules never played thegame of baseball."New York
Mets general manager Sandy Alderson,chairman of the rules committee, made the announcement at the
wintermeetings, saying the change would go into effect for next season if theplayers’ association approved.
Safety and concern over concussions weremajor factors — fans still cringe at the thought of the
season-endinghit Buster Posey absorbed in 2011."Ultimately what we want to dois change the culture of
acceptance that these plays are ordinary androutine and an accepted part of the game," Alderson said.
"The costsassociated in terms of health and injury just no longer warrant thestatus quo."The NFL
reached a settlement last summer in aconcussion-related lawsuit by former players for $765 million, and
agroup of hockey players sued the NHL last month over brain trauma.Bannedfor life in 1989 following a
gambling investigation, Rose insists Fossewas blocking the plate without the ball, which is against the
rules.Fosse injured a shoulder, and his career went into a downslide."Since1869, baseball has been
doing pretty well," Rose said. "The only rulesthey ever changed was the mound (height) and the DH.
I thought baseballwas doing pretty good. Maybe I’m wrong about the attendance figures andthe number of
people going to ballgames."Alderson said wording ofthe rules change will be presented to owners for
approval at their Jan.16 meeting in Paradise Valley, Ariz. Details must be sorted out, suchas what should
happen if a catcher blocks the plate without the ball."Theexact language and how exactly the rule will
be enforced is subject tofinal determination," he said. "We’re going to do fairly extensivereview
of the types of plays that occur at home plate to determine whichwe’re going to find acceptable and which
are going to be prohibited."Approval of the players’ union is needed for the rules change to be
effective for 2014."Ifthe players’ association were to disapprove, then the implementation ofthe rule
would be suspended for one year, but could be implementedunilaterally after that time," Alderson
said.The union declined to comment, pending a review of the proposed change. Some players spoke up on
Twitter."No more home plate collisions?! What is this? NFL quarterbacks are catchers now?" Oakland
outfielder Josh Reddick wrote."Nothingbetter than getting run over and showing the umpire the ball.
Pleasedon’t ban home plate collisions," Pittsburgh rookie catcher Tony Sanchezposted.Discussion to
limit or ban collisions has intensifiedsince May 2011, when Posey was injured as the Marlins’ Scott
Cousinscrashed into him at the plate. Posey, San Francisco’s All-Star catcher,sustained a broken bone in his
lower left leg and three torn ligamentsin his ankle, an injury that ended his season.Posey returned towin
the NL batting title and MVP award in 2012, when he led the Giantsto their second World Series title in
three seasons.In Game 5 ofthis year’s AL championship series, Detroit backstop Alex Avila waspulled a couple
of innings after being run over at the plate by Boston’sDavid Ross, a fellow catcher."This is, I think,
in response to afew issues that have arisen," Alderson said. "One is just the generaloccurrence of
injuries from these incidents at home plate that affectplayers, both runners and catchers. And also kind of
the general concernabout concussions that exists not only in baseball but throughoutprofessional sports and
amateur sports today."Former catchers Joe Girardi, Bruce Bochy and Mike Matheny — all now managing in
the majors — attended Wednesday’s meeting."Idon’t think it’s completely sparked by anything that’s
happened inbaseball as much as what’s happening outside of baseball and how it’simpacting people and
impacting the welfare of each sport," said Matheny,now managing the St. Louis Cardinals.MLB intends to
have varied tiers of punishment."Ithink there will be two levels of enforcement," Alderson said.
"Onewill be with respect to whether the runner is declared safe or out basedon conduct. So, for
example, intentionally running over the catchermight result in an out call. So I think that the enforcement
will be onthe field as well as subsequent consequences in the form of fines andsuspensions and the
like."The NCAA instituted a rule oncollisions for the 2011 season, saying "contact above the waist
that wasinitiated by the base runner shall not be judged as an attempt to reachthe base or plate." The
umpire can call the runner out and also ejectthe player if contact is determined to be malicious or
flagrant.Drafting the big league rule figures to be complicated."Does it include at every base or just
home plate?" Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said.___AP Sports Writer Howie Rumberg contributed to
this report.Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten orredistributed.