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Old Thu Apr 29, 2004, 11:08am
IRISHMAFIA IRISHMAFIA is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by greymule
“When the ball becomes dead, runners may return to touch a base left too soon if they have advanced, touched, and are a base beyond the base left too soon.”

Leaving aside the fact that the sentence is a grammatical nightmare, for precision, "if" should read "whether or not" or simply "even if." Obviously a runner can return if he has not yet advanced to the next base.

And there would be no reason for the runner to return had they not missed a base or left one too soon. There is no need to offer perceived options.

Rules are meant to be written in a manner to convey specific information, not to satisfy grammatical standards. For God's sake, this isn't even a consideration for college entrance any longer, why would it be here?

In the rule above, the word "if" portrays the rule quite well and in the manner it was meant.

JMLHSEO,
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