Timed Plays and Appeals

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally posted by bluezebra
"*Of course, it might be possible to concoct a crazy situation in which a runner runs the bases in reverse order and creates a force on himself."

The runner would be out for making a travesty of the game.

Bob

Not necessarily. A runner is out if the umpire believes they are running the bases in the reverse order to make a travesty of the game.

It is possible that a runner could begin retreating after touching a base to which they were forced. For example, bases loaded, one out. B5 hits a long fly to center and all runners go. As he is rounding 2B, R4 sees F8 dive for the ball and, believing it was caught (it wasn't), reverses his path, retouches 2B and heads back toward 1B. Even though R4 legally touched 2B, when the runner reverses his direction, the force is re-established when he passes the base to which he was originally forced.

You're not going to call the runner out for running the bases in the reverse order, but if the defense gets the ball back to 2B while R4 is still between 1B & 2B, he will be declared out on the force.