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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Pete Rose sounded bowled over. Charlie Hustle, who famously flattened Ray Fosse to score the winning run in the 1970 All-Star game, couldnt believe Major League Baseball intends to eliminate home-plate collisions by 2015 at the latest. "What are they going to do next, you cant break up a double play?" Rose said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press after MLB announced its plan Wednesday. "Youre not allowed to pitch inside. The hitters wear more armour than the Humvees in Afghanistan. Now youre not allowed to try to be safe at home plate?" Rose said. "Whats the game coming to? Evidently the guys making all these rules never played the game of baseball." New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson, chairman of the rules committee, made the announcement at the winter meetings, saying the change would go into effect for next season if the players association approved. Safety and concern over concussions were major factors -- fans still cringe at the thought of the season-ending hit Buster Posey absorbed in 2011. "Ultimately what we want to do is change the culture of acceptance that these plays are ordinary and routine and an accepted part of the game," Alderson said. "The costs associated in terms of health and injury just no longer warrant the status quo." In a sport long bound by tradition, a ban will be a major step. MLB also is instituting a vast increase in the use of instant replay by umpires next season in an effort to eliminate blown calls. The NFL reached a settlement last summer in a concussion-related lawsuit by former players for $765 million, and a group of hockey players sued the NHL last month over brain trauma. Banned for life in 1989 following a gambling investigation, Rose insists Fosse was blocking the plate without the ball, which is against the rules. Fosse injured a shoulder, and his career went into a downslide. "Since 1869, baseball has been doing pretty well," Rose said. "The only rules they ever changed was the mound (height) and the DH. I thought baseball was doing pretty good. Maybe Im wrong about the attendance figures and the number of people going to ballgames." Alderson said wording of the rules change will be presented to owners for approval at their Jan. 16 meeting in Paradise Valley, Ariz. Details must be sorted out, such as what should happen if a catcher blocks the plate without the ball? "The exact language and how exactly the rule will be enforced is subject to final determination," he said. "Were going to do fairly extensive review of the types of plays that occur at home plate to determine which were 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. "If the players association were to disapprove, then the implementation of the rule would be suspended for one year, but could be implemented unilaterally after that time," Alderson said. The union declined 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. "Nothing better than getting run over and showing the umpire the ball. Please dont ban home plate collisions," Pittsburgh rookie catcher Tony Sanchez posted. "Totally disagree," added retired catcher John Flaherty, now an analyst with the Yankees YES Network. Discussion to limit or ban collisions has intensified since May 2011, when Posey was injured as the Marlins Scott Cousins crashed the plate. Posey, San Franciscos All-Star catcher, sustained a broken bone in his lower left leg and three torn ligaments in his ankle, an injury that ended his season. Posey returned to win the NL batting title and MVP award in 2012, when he led the Giants to their second World Series title in three seasons. In Game 5 of this years AL championship series, Detroit catcher Alex Avila was pulled a couple innings after being run over at the plate by Bostons David Ross, a fellow catcher sidelined for much of the season by concussions resulting from foul tips. "This is, I think, in response to a few issues that have arisen," Alderson said. "One is just the general occurrence of injuries from these incidents at home plate that affect players, both runners and catchers. And also kind of the general concern about concussions that exists not only in baseball but throughout professional sports and amateur sports today. Its an emerging issue, and one that we in baseball have to address, as well as other sports." Former catchers Joe Girardi, Bruce Bochy and Mike Matheny -- all now managing in the majors -- attended Wednesdays meeting. "I dont think its completely sparked by anything thats happened in baseball as much as whats happening outside of baseball and how its impacting people and impacting the welfare of each sport," said Matheny, now managing the St. Louis Cardinals. But not everyone is in favour of a change. "I lost time as a catcher being run over a couple different times, but I thought it was part of my job and I enjoyed the contact," said Girardi, the New York Yankees manager. "Now Im not so sure that everyone enjoys contact. But I love football, so I liked it." MLB intends to have varied tiers of punishment. "I think there will be two levels of enforcement," Alderson said. "One will be with respect to whether the runner is declared safe or out based on conduct. So, for example, intentionally running over the catcher might result in an out call. So I think that the enforcement will be on the field as well as subsequent consequences in the form of fines and suspensions and the like." Drafting the rule figures to be complicated. "Does it include at every base or just home plate?" Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. "Whats considered blocking the plate and how do you define all of it?" The NCAA instituted a rule on collisions for the 2011 season, saying "contact above the waist that was initiated by the base runner shall not be judged as an attempt to reach the base or plate." The umpire can call the runner out and also eject the player if contact is determined to be malicious or flagrant. The rule is likely to have an effect on youth leagues, too, where player safety is a primary concern. Little League runners must either slide or try to get around fielders. Plate collisions often are prohibited in high-school ball. "The actual detail, frankly the kinds of plays that were trying to eliminate, we havent finely determined," Alderson said. 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Ultimately, while the landscape around them changed with trades both major and minor, the Blue Jays did nothing before Thursdays non-waiver deadline.TORONTO -- Jose Bautista made the most of his second chance. The Toronto Blue Jays slugger grounded out weakly with the bases loaded in the 13th inning Sunday, missing the chance to play hero against the Detroit Tigers at Rogers Centre. But when the opportunity came up again -- six innings later -- Bautista came through, hitting an opposite field single over the head of a drawn in outfield in the 19th to score Munenori Kawasaki as the Blue Jays capped the longest game in team history with a come-from-behind 6-5 win. "I was just trying to see a pitch up in the zone and drive it into the outfield," Bautista said in a quiet but jubilant Blue Jays clubhouse. "I got lucky that I connected well enough...Obviously it was a great win for us." It was the second straight extra inning walkoff victory for the Blue Jays (63-56) after the Tigers (62-53) won the series opener on Friday night by scoring three runs in the ninth to win 5-4. "We had a long day today. We battled through a lot of things," Bautista said. "Coming out on top at the end of the day is the only thing that matters and we were able to do it." The Blue Jays bullpen was superb, holding the heavy-hitting Tigers scoreless over the final 15-2/3 innings after veteran starter Mark Buehrle was pulled with Toronto down 5-0 and one out in the Detroit fourth. "They did a great job, kept us in the ball game," said centrefielder Colby Rasmus, who made two great catches in extra innings to keep the Tigers off the board. "It was huge...Thankfully we were able to push one across there. It was a grind all day." At six hours and 37 minutes, and 19 innings, it was the longest game in Blue Jays history both in terms of duration and the number of innings. Chad Jenkins (1-1) was the last of Torontos eight pitchers on the day, giving up seven hits over six scoreless innings in his longest outing of the year. "Exhausted," was how Jenkins summed up his feelings post game, adding that he would not have been able to come out and pitch another inning if the Blue Jays hadnt scored the winner in the 19th. "I was running low on fumes," said Jenkins, who noted that he had a couple of starts at Triple-A Buffalo go into a sixth inning -- but that waas earlier in the season.dddddddddddd. Jenkins paid tribute to the thousands among the sellout crowd of 46,126 who stayed and cheered a game that was both one inning, and 39 minutes, longer than the Blue Jays had ever played before. "For the fans who sat through all of it, thank you, that was awesome," Jenkins said. "Its really exciting to look up and see its 7:30 and theres still people here cheering, going crazy, going nuts. It made it so much better." Both teams had their chances to end it sooner. The Blue Jays had several glorious chances. But Juan Francisco in the ninth and 15th innings, and Bautista in the 13th, failed to produce the winning run with the bases loaded. The Blue Jays left 24 runners on base. The Tigers loaded the bases with one out in the 16th but Jenkins coaxed a double play from Torii Hunter to keep it 5-5. Detroit left 19 runners on base. "Despite the fact that both teams were bending at times, they werent breaking until the bottom of the 19th," said Detroit manager Brad Ausmus, who was ejected in the middle of the third inning for arguing. In the Jays 19th, Detroit pitcher Rick Porcello (13-7), normally a starter, intentionally walked Melky Cabrera to load the bases with none out to set the stage for Torontos the second straight walkoff win. Kawasaki, who trotted in with the winning run as the ball bounced against the wall over a drawn in outfield, started the inning with a single. He moved to third when Porcello fielded Jose Reyes sacrifice bunt but threw the ball away. On Saturday, the Blue Jays tied it in the ninth and then won it in the 10th. "It doesnt really matter (how). All that matters is the two wins," said Bautista. Down 5-0, the Blue Jays scored two in the sixth on Dioner Navarros ninth home run off Detroit starter David Price and added another pair in the seventh. Reyes made it 5-5 with two out in the ninth with an RBI single, making up for a first inning error that opened the door for three unearned Detroit runs. Toronto now hits the road for eight games over the next 10 days beginning Monday night in Seattle. Notes: After the game the Blue Jays optioned infielder Ryan Goins to Triple-A Buffalo and called up reliever Brad Mills. ' ' '