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Frequently fields in our region have several feet of foul area past first/third base where it is much quicker to send a new ball to the mound and have a non-playing team member, from the dugout nearest to the foul ball, retrieve the ball.
Yes, officially there would be two baseballs on the field at the same time. I do not put the new ball into play on the mound until the foul ball has been picked up by the non-playing team member.
We have all watched umpires/players stand around while an outfielder retrieves a foul ball, throws it to the middle infielder, who relays it to the catcher, who hands it to the umpire who then checks the ball for damage and then puts the same ball back into play. This feat occurs only if all of the players can actually play catch (often they can't).
Given my practice detailed above, is the non-playing team member retrieving the foul ball required by Federation Rule to wear a helmet even though he is at least 100 feet away from the live ball that was not put into play until he is returning to the dugout?
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