For the record:
Quote:
Originally Posted by OBR Rule 7.01
A runner acquires the right to an unoccupied base when he touches it before he is out. He is then entitled to it until he is put out, or forced to vacate it for another runner legally entitled to that base.
Rule 7.01 Comment: If a runner legally acquires title to a base, and the pitcher assumes his pitching position, the runner may not return to a previously occupied base.
|
First ... Comments are meant to explain the rules, and not augment or change them. Second - many who read this (including the site referenced above) believe this comment is not meant to apply once the pitcher steps off.
More fundamentally, though... the RULE does not state in any manner that the runner cannot, in the normal course of play (for instance, while avoiding a player trying to tag him) move backward beyond a base he is "entitled to". The comment leads one to believe he cannot do this with the ball on the mound. I don't see how one can apply this rule or comment to the OP.
(Further ... apparently neither does MLB!)