[greymule]

I coached HS baseball long ago. I cannot imagine actually teaching kids, as a way to gain an advantage, to cut across the infield--essentially commit a "gross miss" (though I don't know whether Fed makes such a distinction). Even acknowledging that such coaching would be slimy at best, how could anyone be confident that no one would see an obvious miss of a base? And what runner is going to judge that, on this particular play, he doesn't have time to touch the base and so it's worth risking a ridiculous short-cut to score the run?

In any case, I don't see a USC call. It's simply an appeal. If the defense doesn't see a gross miss, shame on them.

Putting vaseline on the ball is cheating. But is it cheating for an outfielder who has trapped a ball to hold the glove up as if he made the catch?

I'm reminded of an old Disney movie ("Moochie and the Little League") in which Moochie traps a ball in the outfield but the umpire calls it a catch for the last out of the game and Moochie's team wins "the championship." When the opposing kids appeal to the umpire, he says, "I'm sorry boys. That's the way I saw it." However, Moochie, who cannot tell a lie, goes to the umpire and admits he caught the ball on the bounce. So the umps score the 2 runs and Moochie's team loses.