Runner Missing 1st base on a force play

[Rich]

Originally posted by Kaliix
7.10(b) could legitimately read "Any runner shall be called out on appeal, when with the ball in play, while returing to a base, he fails to touch each base in order before a missed base is tagged."

That is the rule. Plain, simple, unencumbered. I am not aware of any "interpretation" that is allowed to contradict the actual written rule.

That's fine, as long as you are willing to accept everything in the rule book as correct and written correctly.

Read 7.08(a)(1). Now, a "direct line between bases" seems to be pretty straight-forward, doesn't it? Why, then, do we allow baserunners to establish their own baseline?

Your reading of the "actual written rule" is your interpretation, nothing more and nothing less. Baseball people smarter than you and I don't read the rules the same way. We should listen to them.