Can the runner really do this?

[bob jenkins]

Originally posted by philp
This play was found on a coaches website, and I wonder if it is legal. With a runners on first and third, he advises sending R1 out into right field and drawing attention to let R3 steal home. He claims it is legal because the runner is not leaving the basepath 'to avoid a tag'. My Fed. rulebook, however, says that a runner is out for 'abandoning his effort to touch the next base'. Can I call R1 out?

Legal play.

FED 2000 Interpretations, Situation 19.

If the defense doesn't want R3 to steal home, ignore R1. He's just farther from second and more likely to be forced out.