[greymule]

Besides, I never did baseball umpiring and don't have a clear understanding of what the "last time by" theory actually is.

Last time by refers to the principle that whether or not a runner missed a base is determined by what he did the last time he passed the base. OBR operates on this principle; ASA does not. (I don't know what Fed does either in baseball or in softball).

No matter how many times a runner misses a base, forward or reverse, he has corrected his error if he touches the base last time by. For example:

Abel on 1B off on the pitch and Baker hits a liner to right field. Abel misses 2B on his way to 3B. F9 makes a diving catch. Abel retreats to 1B and misses 2B on his way back (this reverse miss makes his first miss moot). Abel slides back into 1B, and the throw from F9 gets away and bounces toward the stands up the RF line. Abel, having retouched 1B, scrambles to 2B (touches it) and proceeds to 3B. "Last time by" would mean that an appeal on Abel at 2B would be denied, because the last time Abel passed 2B he touched it. By touching 2B "last time by," he has corrected any and all previous misses. (Of course, he still has to advance in forward and retreat in reverse order on the basepaths.)

(Note: If Abel, when between 2B and 3B, had cut straight across the diamond in order to retouch 1B, his error would be uncorrectable, and he would be out on appeal. Even if he eventually touched 2B, "last time by" would not apply.)

If the play above occurred in ASA, Abel would still be liable to be called out on appeal for his second (retreating) miss of 2B, even though he touched 2B last time by (on his way to 3B). This is because the miss came before the required retouch of 1B. Once Abel slid back into 1B, he could correct his error only by running back to 2B, then retouching 1B (making his retreat legal), then back to 2B and on to 3B. ASA also does not differentiate between a regular miss and a gross miss (such cutting across the diamond).

I'm in the hospital because all those Junkyard Dogs were beating on me. All except Abel, even though he was the one I called out. He was exhausted from all that running back and forth.