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Originally Posted by greymule
I still say one runner must physically pass the other in the base path. If R3 stumbles past 3B and falls 4 feet behind the bag, and R2 is advancing toward 3B, when does R2 "pass" R3? When R2 gets within 4 feet of 3B? If both R3 and R2 are scrambling to 3B, do we call R2 out when his distance from 3B is less than R3's?
To me, even if R3 retreats to 3B and continues 10 feet down the LF line, he's still on 3B for the purposes of being passed.
If R3, retreating, overran 3B and did not move toward 2B, I would not require a touch of 3B if he then proceeded home.
I would call plays according to these interpretations. Unfortunately, I see no case play in J/R, PBUC, BRD, or Annotated Rule Book, so all us arguing our conception of what constitutes "passing" is probably not going to accomplish much.
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Just to throw in the reasoning behind my original answer... I believe that a runner has passed a preceding runner on the base paths as soon as the following runner has aquired a position on the basepaths closer to scoring than the preceding runner. My logic fell right in line with Don's post:
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If R3 has retreated past 3rd he is no longer between 3rd and home. he is not on 3rd therefore he is between 2nd and 3rd. It doesn't matter that he is on the 3rd base line he is between 2nd and 3rd by rule.
If he is between 2nd and 3rd he certainly must retag 3rd to go home. If he has to retag 3rd and r2 is on third then r2 must have passed him by rule.
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Is this 100% correct according to the rules? Honestly I don't know for sure. But just as I can't definitively back up my "guess" that R2 is past R3, nobody else can definitively say that passing a preceding runner has not taken place.
As an aside, this is a question that really 'could' and 'should' generate a great discussion and usually a much deeper understanding of the rules. But if it turns into a pi$$ing contest, who is to gain?