"Soaking" was not included among the permissable methods of putting out a baserunner or batter when the National League rule book was written in 1876, so the practise was abolished in 1876 or earlier.
Foul balls caught on one bounce were ruled no longer outs in the revisions of 1883 -- fouls had to be caught on the fly. Oddly, we can't find the revision for fair balls caught on the bound, but presumably it would have been within a year or two of the foul-bounce rule.
|