Establishing Baseline

[tibear]

Originally Posted by mcrowder

I misunderstood your original post. I thought you were saying that he was near third and simply started running toward home plate. If you meant that he ran AROUND the third baseman on the HP side, and then went to third, you have an out - not for abandonment ... but for running more than 3 feet outside his basepath to avoid a tag.

That is the exact situation and taking it a step further the question was why is R2 allowed to run to second when avoiding a tag since second base is not a base he is "entitled" to??

Why is second treated differently then first, home plate or left field for that matter? If the runner moves more then 3 feet outside his basepath which is a direct line between himself and third(the only base open to him), including retreating to second base, should be called out?

Again, I've never called it this way but was asked a question and not sure why second is treated differently.