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Originally Posted by rulesmaven
Baseball's not my sport, so I'm strictly a fanboy on this one. Interesting play in high school game.
Routine ground ball, 1B drops ball and while the ball is in the dirt grasps it with non-glove hand just before batter/runner touches the bag. The ball is still touching the dirt when the BR touches the bag, but it's not moving withing the fielder's bare hand.
No immediate signal. Two umps talked about the play for some time before calling the runner out. It did not appear there was a dispute about what either of them saw, but instead what the rule was, which was surprising to me because I would assume this is a very common play/case. I thought I over heard some discussion whether the ball was touching the bag -- would it matter?
Just kind of curious.
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Assuming F3 had his foot on base at time he grasped ball and before BR touches base, the question between the two of them was probably whether or not F3 had control of the ball. The fact that it's a bare hand vs glove is not the issue. The issue is control of the ball or whether F3 has merely pinned the ball to the dirt. Normally the umpire might shout "show me the ball" to indicate control. Neither apparently did so it becomes a judgment and hence the two umps got together. From the rule book 8-4-1f. I hope this helps
f. after a dropped third strike (see 8-4-1e) or a fair hit, if the ball held by any fielder touches the batter before the batter touches first base; or if any fielder, while holding the ball in his grasp, touches first base or touches first base with the ball before the batter-runner touches first base: