I think the point was that there was no need for anyone to be standing in the ondeck circle in that situation because it was impossible for anyone to come up after Ensberg. The bases were loaded and the game was tied and there were 2 outs. Yet, every time I see this, a batter goes to the on deck circle. Just out of habit I suppose.
Foul balls weren’t strikes until 1901 and then only in the National League. The American League adopted the rule in 1903.
I believe there is a rule that says the next batter must be on deck in the on deck circle (out of the dugout.) I recall a stink about this earlier in the season when a manager wasn’t sending his pitcher on deck in a 2 out situation because the weather was bad. The ump called time & made the manager put someone (the pitcher all wrapped up in warm coats & stuff) on deck.
The only reason I can think of having a batter come to the ondeck circle in a tie game, bases loaded, 2 out, potential game-ending situation is that since, by rule, you are allowed to have someone out on deck, you might as well have someone who can legally be on the field to tell the runner from third to slide or come in standing.
If I was the catcher with 2 outs bases loaded and the ball comes to me, I’d tag the base not the runner. Every now and then of course that’s not possible, but given this particular circumstances, it would be kind of odd to see the catcher with the ball and be forced to tag the runner. (Why wasn’t there a throw to first?) Accidental semi-bunt a couple feet down the third base line I guess.
Also, my opinion of most relief pitchers as base coaches is low. Couldn’t an experienced hitter from the bench stand there instead? No need to do a line-up change since you don’t have to worry about being announced or anything. In fact, wouldn’t the manager have preferred the pitcher to be in the dugout anyway?
Sorry for this becoming a hijack. I really just thought it was an amusing sight.
A wild pitch with the runner from third trying to score?
(of course, in that case, you’d have the batter making the ‘slide/no-slide’ calls, not to mention the ‘come home/stay’ call.)
The scary thing is that during Game 4 of the World Series, Tim McCarver said that the Astros shouldn’t have had Lidge in the ondeck circle in the 8th inning because he had no experience in telling a baserunner in whether to slide or come in standing…
In the 1968 World Series Game 5, there was a close play at the plate involving Lou Brock. Curt Flood was the on deck hitter. Julian Javier had doubled and Brock was trying to score from first on the play. Flood stood at the plate making no apparent signal so Brock came in standing and was thrown out at the plate by Tigers left fielder Willie Horton.
If you’re the on-deck guy, just tell the runner to slide every time no matter what. 
Sliding all the time hurts.
Tim McCarver? Well then, I hearby retract any and all previous utterances and state that having Lidge stand in* the ondeck circle was a brilliant move. (This is just a particular instance of the “Automatically assume McCarver has no idea what he’s talking about” rule.)
(Pet peeve: batters not actually standing in the ondeck circle. It’s just become a dumping ground for the warm up gear. Then there’s the base coaches standing wherever they please…)
The base coaches pretty much can stand anywhere they want unless one team complains then both teams coaches have to stay in the boxes. Coaching boxes are a holdover from the era when base coaches primary job was to annoy the other team.
It’s fun to watch, though, and that’s all that matters. These guys get millions a year. They damn well better pointlessly risk injury for our amusement.
:: wonders once again why Americans ever struggle to understand cricket ::
The Marylebone Cricket Club have also released a humorous summary of the rules of cricket:
*You have two sides: One out in the field and one in.
Each man that’s in the side that’s in goes out and when he’s out he comes in and the next man goes in until he’s out.
When they are all out the side that’s out comes in and the side that’s been in goes out and tries to get those coming in out.
Sometimes you get men still in and not out.
When both sides have been in and out including the not outs,
That’s the end of the game. *
Would that Baseball were so simple.
Check out my link above for the original Knickerbocker rules of 1945. They were simple.
After that it was a matter of loose constructionism, really. People began doing things in the game (such as stealing bases, or running the bases backward, or substituting out players while the ball was in play) because the rules didn’t explicitly forbid them; rules were later added to do so, and approved rulings and interpretations of those rules tacked on for clarification. That happened enough early on that I guess it became the spirit of the game: you can do it unless the rules say you can’t.
There aren’t many situations in baseball covered by “understood” or “that’s just how we do it” rules. I can think of 3 main ones and they’re all pretty similar.