[greymule]

The accidental appeal in Fed was actually the accidental force play, though it did apply at 1B, which is of course not technically a force.

It applied only on missed bases to which a runner was forced, not to non-forced bases or bases left too soon.

If the BR beat the throw to 1B but missed the bag, he was to be called out. If a forced runner missed 2B and was tagged after he reached 3B safely, he was also to be called out on the accidental force play. (The theory, contrary to every other code, was that he had not yet touched 2B.)

It was the accidental force play that I was thinking of when I said, "a few years ago" in an earlier post. I think the accidental force play went out in 2001 or 2002.