johnny,
Good find. I'm embarrassed you beat me to it.
To me, though counterintuitive, this is really pretty simple.
From Rule 2, we have the defintion of "catch":
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A CATCH is the act of a fielder in getting secure possession in his hand or glove of a ball in flight and firmly holding it; ...
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From the MLBUM we have a definition of a "play", as the word is used in the context of 7.05(g):
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A play or attempted play is interpreted as a legitimate effort by a defensive player who has possession of the ball to actually retire a runner. ...
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Since, by definition, a play can only be made by a fielder who already has possession of the ball, and a catch can only be made by someone who doesn't have possession of the ball, a catch cannot, by definition, be a 7.05(g) play.
JM