Ask UEFL - Caught Fly Ball Retouch Appeal Philly Edition

[Lindsay]

On the heels of Wednesday's Pirates-Nationals complicated tag up appeal play fourth out situation, we find another tagging up/retouch appeal play during the Braves-Phillies game in Philadelphia, but this one is a lot easier to parse than the Washington event. Play & Calls: With none out and two...

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[agdz59]

Maybe I should start a different topic but I'll post the question here.

After looking at this and the Nats-Pirates fiasco, I'm wondering when the base running appeal rule entered the game and why.

Why not treat base running mistakes like type 2 obstruction and call them when we see them after play has stopped? 

Or, on the other hand, why not treat type 2 obstruction as an appeal play as well?

Why did the games powers that be want to differentiate this set of base running rules violations different than obstruction?

I'm going to guess its because it happens too often and forces umpires to take their eyes off the ball too much to get all appealable outs.

[flyingron]

You've lost me.    Why would the fielders "appeal" an obstruction?    If it wasn't called automatically, they'd be well advised to keep their mouth shut.

[maven]

1 hour ago, agdz59 said:

Why not treat base running mistakes like type 2 obstruction and call them when we see them after play has stopped? 

I believe that was (approximately) the rule decades ago. The rules makers felt that it stifled offense.