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Originally Posted by voiceoflg
Got it. I thought of the bases loaded one on the drive home, but not the other one. Makes perfect sense. Thanks again, all.
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The original rule was that the batter always had to be put out. When F2 was standing a considerable distance behind home plate, and didn't wear a glove (or wore a smaller glove), and the fields weren't so well maintained, catching the ball (often on a bounce) and putting out the batter was far from a sure thing.
Then, as equipment improved and catcher's moved to (at least about) the current position, it became "too much" of a sure thing. It was obvious that BR was going to be out when F2 caught the ball, so why bother? So, the rule was changed to only require the BR to be put out when F2 did not catch the pitch.
Wily catchers soon learned the tricks mentioned in the previous posts to get an easy double play. So, the rule was again ameded to only allow the BR to try for first when a force-out double play was not possible -- either first is unoccupied, or two are already out.