[greymule]

I have seen a BR retreat from 1B a few times. In one instance, a BR had reached 1B but wrongly thought that F9 had caught his short pop. So he started back down the 1B line on his way to the dugout on the 3B side. His teammates yelled for him to get back to the bag, but F4 threw the ball to 1B before he got there. The ump called him out on the basis of his having reinstated the "force." That seemed logical to me (especially since I was playing on the defense). The guy did argue, though, of course.

On another occasion, the BU was not definite about whether a ball had been trapped in left-center, and when F7 threw to 2B for a force on the runner from 1B, the BR thought the out call applied to him and so started back toward his bench. If memory serves, he got back to 1B safely.

It's true that the BR has no good reason to go back toward home; these plays arose from misunderstandings.