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Not to pick open an old scab, but I disagree. The INSTANT ball four crosses the plate, the runners are awarded a base, and this award is specifically due to the actions of the improper batter. The fact that the pitch subsequently went out of play did not add to anyone's award or change the situation at all. If it was just a wild pitch that stayed in the park, I'm even more convinced to put the runners back, as the defense would have FAR less urgency in trying to retrieve the ball, considering that they THINK they don't have a play at the plate on R1 due to the BB.
I've said it before, and I'll maintain that the only sitch where runners that advance simultaneously with a BOO batter's base on balls is a sitch where those runners advances were with liability to be put out (i.e. a runner advancing home or to third that was NOT forced by the BOO's BB). In any other sitch, the defense's reaction to those runners was tainted (read: affected) by the fact that BOO batter drew the walk.
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"Many baseball fans look upon an umpire as a sort of necessary evil to the luxury of baseball, like the odor that follows an automobile." - Hall of Fame Pitcher Christy Mathewson
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