[greymule]

Quite simple, actually. Greymule, I challenge you to research the same OBR rule; it has been decades since I called baseball, but I seem to recall the same basic rule, two bases from the actual position at time of throw, without regard to legally touched or direction headed.

OBR 7.05 [note at the end]

If a runner is forced to return to a base after a catch, he must retouch his original base even though, because of some ground rule or other rule, he is awarded additional bases. He may retouch while the ball is dead and the award is then made from his original base. [my italics]

That clause has been in the OBR book for as long as I can remember. But the following play has been problematic, and OBR (or somebody who recommends things for OBR) has finally given instructions on how to handle it:

Abel on 1B, no outs. Baker hits a drive to deep right-center. Abel returns to 1B to tag up. F8 dives and makes a great catch at the base of the fence. You as PU see that Abel left slightly early, but apparently no one else has noticed, as everybody was watching F8 try to run down Baker's drive. Abel rounds 2B, and as F8 had to recover from the dive and get up and throw, starts for 3B. As Abel slides into 3B, the throw gets away and goes into DBT. Abel stands on 3B looking at you.

The question had been what award to make. Abel was in a sense "forced to return to a base after a catch," so the award would be 3B. However, awarding 3B would be tantamount to announcing that Abel left too soon. So the award is home. However, if Abel initiates a return (perhaps the 3B coach was watching and tells him he left too soon), the award is changed to 3B, though Abel must still complete his baserunning responsibilities.

The part about initiating a return has been part of the rules interpretation for a long time, but it was not clear how to handle the glitch of the runner's initiating a return after the award was made. The direct instruction to change the award after it has been made is a couple of years old.

Note that Fed and OBR differ as to when a runner can no longer legally return to touch a missed base. In OBR, the runner can return to correct an error unless he had advanced to the next base after the ball became dead. In Fed (last I looked), if when the ball becomes dead the runner is on or beyond the base past the one he left too soon, he cannot legally return. So in Fed, a runner between 2B and 3B could be heading back toward 2B in his attempt to return to 1B, but if the ball goes into DBT before he reaches 2B, he cannot then legally return to 1B. Incidentally, the ASA rule used to be similar, and if you read POE 38 (2006 book) carefully, you'll notice that ASA stipulates that "the runner was between 1B and 2B when the ball went out of play." This clause is an artifact of the old rule, and is no longer necessary in the POE.

ASA now stipulates that a runner can return to correct an error unless he advances to the next base after the award is made. So ASA differs from both OBR and Fed.