[greymule]

I understand exactly what you are saying. What's past 1B to you isn't the same as what's past 1B to me. To me, a ball that lands halfway between the mound and 2B did not go past a base. To you, it did. But however our conceptions differ is irrelevant. The question is, How does OBR define "on or beyond 1B or 3B"?

So let's find some authoritative evidence that OBR uses the 1B-3B line. I do not see it in the rule book, the J/R, the annotated rule book, the MLBUM, the PBUC, or the BRD. And this is a rule of major practical—not simply theoretical—importance, since uncaught popups could well fall near 1B or 3B and be fair under one interpretation but foul under the other. Somebody must have cited the 1B-3B line somewhere. It's in black and white in Fed. Where is it in OBR?

if you picture a straight line from home to first/third, it's 90 feet. Now take this same line and swing it, so to speak, to the other corner base. As you begin to swing it, keeping it straight, it doesn't disappear; rather, it--roughly speaking--extends to the aforementioned diagonal.

Actually, it is beyond the diagonal at all points. You'd have a 90 degree arc with radius 90 feet. On the direct line toward 2B, it would be 26+ feet beyond the diagonal. Under the 1B-3B rule, a ball could travel 65 feet and be considered as having traveled "past a base."

OBR does adopt some NFHS interps. when things are unclear.

I never knew this. Can you cite an example?

Has anyone ever seen a ball land beyond "the line" and spin foul? I see this more likely near to 1B or 3B, but have never seen one spin in this fashion.

In baseball, a few times over 30+ years. Yes, always near 1B or 3B. More often in softball, with the hard skinned infields and players who can't catch popups. I've seen balls land behind the mound and spin foul. And they are foul balls.