Force Play?

[Dave Hensley]

Originally posted by mbyron
If BR passes R1 before the batted ball is caught, then BR is out immediately, the force is removed on R1, and R1 need not retouch.

The error you are making is believing that a runner's requirement to retouch on a caught fly ball is a "force play." It is not; it is an appeal play. The retouch requirement is related to the catch itself, not the batter's status at the time of the catch.

This situation (batter out for passing before batted fly ball is caught) is the one time in a thousand that the catch and the batter's putout are NOT related to each other, and (as far as I know) there is an absence of discussion of this situation in the authoritative literature. Nevertheless, there is nothing in the rules that would remove the runner's obligation to tag up because the batter is out for passing when his fly ball is caught; as mentioned previously, a caught fly ball never creates a force play.