When does a play end?

[SC Ump]

Originally posted by Dakota

The key phrase here is "to make a travesty of the game."

That and your mention of the "taunting" aspect is my understanding and also specifically why I referred to this in this discussion.

My understanding on this rule and its history was that it was put in place because somewhere in baseball's past, there would be runners on 1st and 3rd, and the runner at 1st would steal 2nd on one pitch, "steal" 1st on the next pitch, "steal" 2nd again on the following, then "steal" 1st again, etc., all in an attempt to instigate a throw from the catcher.