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I'll admit I hijacked this one, but let's have a little more fun with this. Put down whichever rule book you are reading and think about this.
What is the difference of a runner passing another on a foul ball and a blocked or overthrown ball?
Remember, we've all been taught than once the ball is ruled dead, nothing is supposed to happen. Pitchers cannot pitch, batter cannot hit, runners cannot advance, nor be put out. Any rulings involving the pitch, hit, running of bases or execution of an out which occurs during a dead-ball period is supposed to be base upon the occurences prior to the ball being declared dead.
So, if a B2 passes R1 at first on a ball which is heading over the fence, s/he is out if the ball is declared fair, but not out if the ball is declared foul. What's the difference if the act occured while the fly ball was still in play? Is the runner only ruled out if the RF reaches over the fence in foul territory and makes the catch? Is this a retroactive type of call? What if the BR thinks it is a foul ball, turns left around R1 on the base heading back to the plate only to have the wind bring it back into play? Is that runner allowed to retreat back behind R1 to what and see if the ball is fair? Okay, that's a little TWP, but not beyond the realm of possibility.
In certain levels of SP, the runners are not required to run the bases. However, if there is a pass during the flight of the HR ball, is that runner out even though the rule states that they are not required to run the bases? The only exception noted are appeals and passing a runner is not an appeal. Again, the passing occured during live ball play, not after the ball became dead.
Let's assume the runners cannot pass another runner on awarded bases. When does the award kick in? Is it automatic as soon as the ball enters DBT? Am I out of line if I say that most, if not all, organizations direct their umpires to hesitate in making awards until after runners have been given the opportunity to complete any baserunning tasks that may be available to them? Along those lines, would not the award be an award only when the umpire announces it? If that were the case, what difference would it make if one runner happened to step past another during a dead ball period as long as it is corrected prior to touching the next base?
Please note, I'm not disagreeing with anyone's view, offered ruling, opinion or the given interpretations, just talking aloud about how they came to be.
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