[greymule]

I thought that in terms of simply missing a base and being liable to be called out on appeal, there was no difference between a gross miss and a regular miss. Runner between 2B and 3B trying to return to 1B misses 2B by two inches or cuts across the diamond, it's still an appeal of a miss, and he's out either way.

Where the distinction arises is that a gross miss cannot be corrected "last time by," while a regular miss can be so corrected.

For example, R1 stealing on the pitch, batter hits a long drive to right-center. R1 is around 2B when F9 makes a diving catch. R1 runs straight across the diamond to 1B, and the throw to 1B goes into DBT, so R1 is awarded 3B. R1 retouches 1B and proceeds to 2B and 3B. He is still liable to be called out on appeal for his gross miss of 2B on his return, even though he touched 2B last time by.