Saw this for the first time last night and curious for feedback . . .

Bases loaded, one out and the batter lifts a dinky pop up toward 3B. The home plate umpire puts into effect the infield fly rule and barks loudly, "Batter's Out.'' Now it gets tricky. The third baseman doesn't make the play. The ball drops at his feet, he never touches it and it kicks to the side into foul territory in front of the bag.
Is the batter out?
After huddling, the umps overturn the call and say the infield fly rule doesn't apply because it ended up being a foul ball. He's right, but the coach of the team in the field argues his 3B backed off when he heard the umpire call the batter out. Any thoughts, other than that the kid should have caught the ball regardless?

I believe the infield fly rule only applies to fair balls. If so then this is nothing other than a foul ball.

I believe the umpire should have said "infield fly, batter's out if fair" or something of that nature if there was a reasonable chance of the ball going foul if it wasn't caught. However, I guess the ball could have been fairly far away from the lines but still have taken a funky bounce. Anyway, they got the call right ultimately, but we had a similar situation in a game a few weeks ago.

Umpire correctly yelled "IFR if fair" and the ball landed in FAIR territory. Batter out. Runners at risk if they leave their respective bases.

If the R5 attempted to catch it and dropped it, what's the call? Fair. Caught? Fair.

The purpose of the fly rule was to take away the distinct advantage from the defense because they could drop the ball and at the very least double up the runners.

Umpires made up a rule.

The mechanic that we teach is for the umpire to call "INFIELD FLY IF FAIR"....and not to use the "Batters out".... as shown, the ball can end up foul and the batter is not out....

This does not come into play with a routine INF in fair territory...the batter is out of course, and the fielders do not have to catch the ball for the batter to be out....

But the ball in the INF situation is a live ball....and runners can advance....seldom do but it is legal...

Fielders should never back off catching an INF if at all possible.....INF in fair, will keep runners from advancing...INF that floats foul will result in an out for catching a foul ball....

Sometimes our (umpires) choice of words can come back to haunt us.....they got the call right ....but it always leaves a bad taste in the mouths of the players/coaches/fan and umpires....

I know that I an old and stupid...but I just can't believe that after an ump calls out that the Batter Out, that the ump can then change his mind and call him safe no matter what happens.

quote:

Sometimes our (umpires) choice of words can come back to haunt us

PIAA, you'll love this one. It's a USSSA Super NIT final. The game goes into a ninety minute rain delay. Upon resumption of play the HPU yells out, "We have bases loaded, two outs, Play ball!" The hitter pops up to first. The umpire yells, "Infield fly." It was a brain **** from the rain delay. He forgot there were two outs. He's an exceptional umpire. I was in the stands watching after our team was eliminated. Since I have a good relationship with the umpire I couldn't resist, "Want to get away for a while?" (SWAir ad).

Fortunately the fielder caught the ball. I was sitting in the first row. We had a good laugh between innings. I asked him what would have happened if the fielder dropped the ball. He said he would have apologized for being stupid and sorted it out.

been there/done that RJM..and nothing makes you want to climb into a hole more than making a blunder in front of everyone...

Nothing you can do but aplogize and sort it out and "get it right".....

The worst one to me is calling out a batter on strike 2...and every umpire has done it.....that stings....

quote:

Originally posted by mrtarheel:
I know that I an old and stupid...but I just can't believe that after an ump calls out that the Batter Out, that the ump can then change his mind and call him safe no matter what happens.

In judgment calls you are 100% correct...the call can not be challenged or even argued....

In application of the rules however, you can protest and get a ruling overturned due to a incorrect application of a rule...and in todays focus, we are encouraged to get the call right....and when presented with a situation where a rule is being applied incorrectly....then we can change it to get it correct.....

In rules application, it is the rule book that is the final authority, not the umpire...