[DG]

Originally posted by NFump
Bob, that's the whole point of the question. What to do if the ball IS put in play. With the hidden ball trick you're only going to get one play, but with a fielder missing, you could get two or more batters in the inning before it's discovered. I look at it like this ,no harm, no foul. If the defense doesn't gain an advantage from it, i.e. the "missing" fielder comes out of dugout and catches pickoff throw and tags runner, then play on. If the offense fails to "take advantage" of the missing fielder, oh well, you should "hit it where they ain't".

I look at it like this, this is a preventable problem, look around and not let play continue if you don't have the required numbers of players.