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OBR 2.00 "Force Play".
There are at least 2 recent threads in which this was thrashed to death. I really cannot repeat all of it here. I think I may have reached the point where, if there are idiots out there who insist that BR is, by rule, "forced" at first, and that the "force" is "reinstated" if he retreats, I will simply leave them in their wilfull, but happy, ignorance; secure in the knowledge that none of them work with me, or if they do, I am heavily senior to them.
For what it is worth, the J/R text you cite does not say what you interpret it to mean. "Any runner [including BR] is out when ... forced ..." DOES NOT mean that BR is forced to 1st. This is a classical logic fallacy: because all runners who are forced are out when the base or their person are tagged, it DOES NOT FOLLOW that all runners who are out when the base or their person is tagged are, therefore, forced. [If that is not clear enough ( & I doubt it), try the non-baseball formula: All oranges are fruits; however, it does not follow therefore that all fruits are orange]
The BR going to 1st does not fit the definition of a Force Play [2.00], and there are specific rules which determine when BR is or is not out at 1st base [6.05(j), 6.09(b)cmt, 7.08(a)(2), 7.08(c), 7.08(j), 7.10(c), for instance.] Please note that none of these rules as they apply to the BR/1st play refers to it as a "force play".
BTW, 7.01 may help you understand why the play @ 1st is not a force per 2.00. Hint: does the Batter have the right to stay @ Home Plate "until forced to vacate it for another runner legally entitled to that base"? Also, see 7.08(i)cmt [hint: if BR "retreats" to the plate and stands thereon, can he be put out by tagging him?]. Bearing these rules and rulings in mind, tell me: does BR have a "right to occupy" Home which he can be "forced" from by reason of another runner becoming entitled to it?
So, to conclude:
THERE IS NO "FORCE" ON THE BR AT 1st;
it therefore follows that-
THE 'FORCE' IS NOT 'REINSTATED' if BR retreats toward Home AFTER touching 1st Base;
in which event- BR MUST BE TAGGED to be out.
Now, obviously, if there exisits out there, a black-letter rule or ruling which states, in so many words, that BR is "Forced" @ 1st, such that the "Force" is reinstated if he retreats after touching the base, and BR may thus be put out by merely tagging the base; and further, that if such a "reinstated force" @ 1st is the third out, no runs shall score: I will humbly stand corrected. But until that happens, my future silence in the face of hardhead idiot attempts to twist language and logic to "test" this point should not be interpreted as agreement.
--Carter
[Edited by cbfoulds on Aug 11th, 2004 at 10:32 AM]
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