[greymule]

Just a guess, but I suspect that the umps watched the entire play unfold, and after Adcock had circled the bases, they called Aaron out for abandoning effort. After all, with Aaron heading straight to the dugout and Adcock running the bases, the umps were probably doing double-takes. Later, when Giles reviewed the play, he saw that Adcock had "passed" Aaron before Aaron had actually been called out—though he should have been called out well before Adcock passed him.

I don't see how Adcock could possibly have passed Aaron before Aaron abandoned his effort. However, Giles probably reasoned that, though Aaron had indeed abandoned effort, the umps hadn't actually called it at the time Adcock passed him. On the other hand, I would think that a reviewer of the play would say, "OK, Aaron should have been called out the moment he abandoned effort. By the time Adcock passed him, Aaron was already out." If you're going to review part of a play, you should review the whole play.

Yes, if Aaron stopped between 2B and 3B and Adcock passed him, then Aaron abandoned effort, they would both be out. But I would think that if that had happened, the passing would have been obvious and they would have called Adcock out immediately.

Wow! Imagine if Mantilla had gone into a lazy trot and Giles ruled that both Adcock and Aaron were out before Mantilla crossed the plate. Two runners on, one out, ball hit over the fence, NO RUN, and one of the most famous games of all times is picked up in the top of the 14th!

[Edited by greymule on Feb 25th, 2003 at 04:13 PM]