[greymule]

to avoid malicious or flagrant contact

I don't believe ASA uses malicious anywhere. It does use flagrant, in both 8-7-Q and POE #14:

"If the act is determined to be flagrant, the offender will be ejected."

So ejection for a crash is not automatic.

To me, a crash is an actual crash, not merely contact. Unfortunately, umpires differ greatly in how they call such plays.

I believe that ASA's crash rule was instituted in 1980 or 1981. I remember clearly that before the change, it was pretty much as in MLB, with runners feeling obliged to crash to break the ball loose, especially (obviously) at home.