Advantageous 4th Out

[mcrowder]

It may just be mental exercise - but consider a case where the runner who missed the base had only overrun it by a step or three when the third out was made, and then returned immediately. Do you allow an appeal on this player, and how do you explain it to the coach that even though the player made it back to the missed base before the appeal, you're still calling that runner out.

I'm curious why there seems to be a desire on some people's part to differentiate between a runner moving forward and a runner moving backward on this play. The rulebook makes no mention of a differentiation between these two. It is, of course, admittedly a grey area - but I can't understand why anyone wants to treat forward one way and backward another in absence of a rule telling them to do that.

Makes more sense to treat them both the same. Obviously, I've supported allowing the offense to continue being the offense until the defense is no longer the defense (up to and including the time required to make any 4th out appeals). I don't support the opposite, but the opposite position is certainly more tenable than half one-way, half the other.