Should we settle on a name for those extra-innings runners?

Nope. But some of the options are better than others. Read on...

So a little more than a year ago while spinning the MLB radio dial, I noticed something interesting: there seemed to be very little consensus among the announcers when it came to describing those runners who begin every extra half-inning on second base. This struck me as strange, given that 2024 was the fifth season (!) with the new rules, like ‘em or not.

Curiosity piqued, I began cataloguing the various terms the radio guys and gals were using, and then … my day job became, as it does every year, my morning-day-and-night job for three months, and I almost completely forgot about the whole thing.

Until this spring. When I started up again.

If you just listen to your favorite team’s games, you might think there’s just one or two of these terms. But I listen to all the teams and (at least occasionally) all the radio broadcast crews.

(Well, sorta. Two caveats here. One, there are some announcers I simply won’t listen to for more than a few minutes. So while I probably know their favorite term for extra-innings runners, I might have missed their secondary choice or choices. And two, I do not understand Spanish but I would LOVE to know which terms those announcers use; I’ll bet some of them are great! So if you know, please let us know in the comments.)

I have not conducted an exhaustive survey, in part because I don’t know the voices of all the radio announcers and some don’t routinely identify themselves. I do think I’ve heard all the remotely popular terms. It’s also not exhaustive because I haven’t checked a single TV broadcast. So it’s very possible that I’ve missed at least one or two terms in regular use.

With all those caveats, here is my list, along with a few notable practitioners. Again, this is not meant to be comprehensive, let alone exhaustive…

Automatic Runner (Jon Miller, Rob Ford, Ben Shulman)
Courtesy Runner (Pat Hughes, Johnny Doskow, Jeff Brantley)
Designated Runner (Terry Smith)
Extra-Inning Runner (Dan Dickerson)
Free Runner (Rick Rizzs, Len Kasper, Joe Ritzo)
Ghost Runner (Dave Sims, Suzyn Waldman, Gregg Murphy)
Manfred Man (Jon Sciambi, Kris Atteberry)
Placed Runner (Vince Cotroneo, Jon Miller, Jake Eisenberg)
Rulebook Runner (just me)
Zombie Runner (Scott Franzke, Gary Hill Jr., Joe Castiglione)

Gonna give a couple of shout-outs here to the Brewers’ Lane Grindle and the Orioles’ Melanie Newman. In just one game, Grindle used automatic runner and inherited runner and placed runner … and then for his big finish, he said or whatever phrase you wanna use. That was nearly a year ago, and for all I know Grindle’s settled on something specific. Same with Newman, but in another game last May she used placed runner, ghost runner, and Manfred Man all within a few minutes.

It’s probably easier for most announcers to just choose their favorite and stick with it. But you gotta respect announcers who keep a few at hand and like to mix things up like this. (I’m a simple man and would probably settle on one, if I were still doing that work.)

The above list is in alphabetical order. Here’s the list in preferential order, worst to first:

10. Courtesy Runner
I recognize that not everyone obsesses over (among other things) pre-Jackie Robinson baseball history, but the term courtesy runner has meant … something completely different. Here’s a great look at the history of actual courtesy runners.

Also, it’s nonsensical. We’re extending a courtesy to … whom, exactly? The stadium ushers who wanna be home by midnight?

I don’t enjoy bossing people around, but both this term and the next should be expunged from the extra-innings playbook.

9. Ghost Runner
In the immortal words of Danny Kaluuya: Nope.

Look, I get it. I grew up with ghost runners, too. But however delightful this reference to our misbegotten childhoods, it’s also wildly inaccurate. We called them ghost runners, when we played our childish games, because they were invisible. Sure, they were definitely out there on the bases and they had to obey certain rules. But you could not see them.

These runners that show up in the 10^th inning of MLB games? You cannot unsee them; they exist and are highly corporeal. Especially if you’re some poor relief pitcher who gets hung with the L after giving up a couple of routine grounders.

8. Designated Runner
I don’t get this one. Who’s doing the designating? The manager doesn’t have a choice, unless he sends in a pinch-runner. It’s just too close to Designated Hitter without a similar meaning.

7. Automatic Runner
Accurate. Generic. Serviceable.

(In fact, this is the default term because it’s the one MLB has used in official communications.)

6. Free Runner
Ditto.

5. Placed Runner
This one, like No. 6, has the advantage of brevity, plus it’s just a bit more specific than the previous three.

“Hey, what’s that guy doing out there?”

“Like it or not, Commissioner Rob placed him there.”

“Oh, okay. But why?”

“It’s not clear. Something about eight relief pitchers not being enough, I think? Or players getting out of the stadium before Ruth’s Chris closes?”

4. Rulebook Runner
I think I made this one up. According to my notes, anyway.

Technically speaking, I find no real difference between this and the previous three entries. Automatic, placed, free … they’re all getting at the same thing. But rulebook runner does have something that the other two don’t: a tinge, whether intentional or not, of dissent. There’s an attitude here, sort of a Hey, we don’t like it either, but the rulebook says we have to vibe. I’m not saying I love it. But I prefer it over the others like it.

3. Extra-Inning Runner
I’ve not heard anyone use this except Detroit’s Dan Dickerson, but I appreciate its specificity. For announcers looking for an alternative to any of those listed above, maybe give this a try next time.

2. Manfred Man
I’m a big fan of names based on names, for the obvious reason that names serve as vivid connections to history. I’m endlessly frustrated by announcers’ unwillingness to use the term “Buster Posey Rule” for the (relatively) new home-plate collision (avoidance) rules. We can’t prove a direct connection between Posey’s traumatic injury and the new rules, but I certainly believe there is one. I think every rule resulting from a player’s action (or injury) should be named, however unofficially, after the player. I mean, isn’t Tommy John Surgery better than Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction?

On the other hand, “Manfred Man” was terribly dated, perhaps fatally so, from the moment it was invented. For the simple reason that very few people younger than … 50, maybe? … have any memory of Manfred Mann, a band that’s been around — granted, officially in three distinct forms — since the early 1960s, and whose last hit song in America was more than 40 years ago.

Still, I do love the idea of a child wondering, long after Rob Manfred and I have vacated our offices and perhaps this earthly sphere, why is that runner on second called a Manfred Man?

1. Zombie Runner
Funny thing. Zombie runner is my favorite, but I wouldn’t want everyone to use it.

It’s my favorite because it’s both unique and accurate. You’re never heard it before; you’re not going to confuse a zombie runner with some other sort of runner. And it does describe what has actually happened. That runner on second base? Just moments ago, he was dead (out). And how he is risen, and just moments from now he might well score an important run! Just like a real (baseball-playing) zombie!

But just because it’s accurate doesn’t mean it’s not gimmicky. It is. I think the gimmick, repeated game in, game out by all 30 radio crews, would get old. Or even 10 crews.

Also, for the uninitiated, both of these last two might require some explanation. And as Seattle’s outstanding Gary Hill Jr. told me, when the 10th inning rolls around “there’s a lot to talk about.” Hill has used “Zombie runner” but now mostly sticks with “automatic”.

I wouldn’t support standardization anyway, because variety isn’t the spice of life; it is life. If I could wave a wand, I would erase Nos. 10 through 8 from the announcers’ vocabulary. But I think an environment that includes the other seven terms is good clean fun, and should be encouraged.

Again, I’d love to know what everyone thinks about these, and especially what other terms you’re hearing out there.