So, if there's a popup, the runners hang around near their base, because it's likely that it'll get caught, and they'll need to tag up before they can do anything else. So, when there were runners on first and second, and a popup was hit, fielders would deliberately drop an easy popup. Then they could pick up the ball and get an easy double play, because the runners on second and first still had to run most of the way to the next base.
It was a... anti-gamesmanship rule, I guess you'd call it. The rule made it so the fielding team couldn't get an easy extra out.
(I'm back to getting caught by the character limit. Which is pathetic.)
EDIT: Want an unfair argument? You claimed that baseball was only taken up by countries lacking a stick-and-ball game. Not true. Lacrosse preceded baseball in the US, and baseball took over. Because lacrosse sucks.
It was a... anti-gamesmanship rule, I guess you'd call it. The rule made it so the fielding team couldn't get an easy extra out.
(I'm back to getting caught by the character limit. Which is pathetic.)
EDIT: Want an unfair argument? You claimed that baseball was only taken up by countries lacking a stick-and-ball game. Not true. Lacrosse preceded baseball in the US, and baseball took over. Because lacrosse sucks.