[Dakota]

Originally posted by CecilOne
Tom,
"This had to have been intentional" might be the worst assumption I've heard from you.

I appreciate the compliment, but modesty requires that I admit that this is far from the worst.

We seem to have proven again and again that there is no coordination or editing involved with the rule book(s).

Yes, but this seems to be just a bit too specific to be just another ASA fractured syntax problem.

All,
I have never believed a POE supercedes a Rule, as they are intended to be explanations or clarifications even when they are not.

I don't see a direct contradiction between the phrases Tom quoted:
1) "while the pitcher has control of the ball within an eight foot radius of the pitcher's plate, the runner may stop once"
2) " and is stationary when the pitcher has the ball in the circle".
If the runner is stationary, the runner has stopped. If the runner is not stationary, meaning has not stopped, the runner "may stop once". So, #1 covers not stopped yet when F1 receives the ball and #2 covers already stopped. Either way, the important is not remaining stopped.

This is what I was trying to say with my follow-on post.

As said above, the phrase "continue towards that base" in the comment "when the pitcher receives the ball in the circle, that runner must continue towards that base, or be called out" contradicts everyone's understanding of the rule (see #1 above). I would not call an out in any of WMB's examples.
Besides, the "other than first base" phrase is inconsistent with the rest of the sentence. If a runner is moving toward 1st, LBR or not, the runner can not retreat.

IOW, you've decided, like I had previously before my recent bout of second-guessing, that this sentence makes no sense and should be ignored. That's the way I have called it, and will continue to do so, barring some authoritative resolution of the POE mystery.

BTW, I agree with Cecil in no LBR outs in any of WMB's cases (with the assumption that the "must continue" sentence in the POE is erroneous).