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Originally Posted by BRump
Going back to the fair/foul...according to the way I am interpreting the rule (I acknowledge I may be incorrect), it seems that once a ball touches a person while over foul territory it immediately becomes a foul ball, and therefore a dead ball. Now, I understand that once the ball is touched the runners can leave, but because the ball is dead upon touch the runners could not advance. So, the juggling act for which the various rules counter seems to not apply for a foul ball, because upon touch the ball is dead. However, if the first touch is a catch the runners can advance.
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Tee, does this post tie?
A foul fly does not become a dead ball until it becomes an uncaught, ordinary foul ball. When have you ever seen a foul ball that was eventually legally caught after being bobbled declared a dead ball? Answer, never, because it does not. It is merely a poorly worded rule, which is clarified by interpretations, and by the definition of a catch under Rule 2.00, stating that the runners may leave the base the moment the first fielder touches the ball, and makes
no distinction between fair or foul.
Rule 2.00 FOUL BALL is describing a ball which touches an umpire, player, object foreign to the natural ground
which is not caught. The writers did not put the emphasized part in the rule, probably because they figured that it was so obvious, it didn't need to be mentioned.
If a player bobbles a foul fly and another player catches it before the ball hits the ground, it is a catch, and the ball remains alive. Only when it is declared "no catch" by the umpire does the ball become dead.