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Originally Posted by Spectator
The reason I ask is because it seemed clear that after the ball hit home plate and bounced up it either hit the batter or the catcher and seemed to roll out of fair territory. I clearly understand that the ball hitting home plate is always fair territory, is it not more relevant where the ball ends up? And if the ball indeed hit the catcher or batter after hitting home plate, is there a ruling there also. I can definitely see how making a call in a split second with so many variables can be very difficult. Thanks again.
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I don't know what the diameter of a 5-sided object looks like ... so I'll ignore that.
The point of the plate is the corner of the square that defines fair territory, and the lines of that square extend from that point to the outside edges of the bases - a ball inside that square or touching the line is in fair territory.
A ball that has not been touched (by a player, coach, fence, etc) or come to rest is neither a foul ball nor a fair ball... it is nothing until it either stops or is touched. Then, the location of the ball when it stops or is touched determines whether that ball is fair or foul (unless it's caught in flight, in which case it's merely a caught fly ball over fair or foul territory, and still live).
Your ball hit the plate ... it is currently over fair territory, but is still neither fair nor foul.
You then mention (in the 2nd post, not the OP) that it was touched by the batter or the catcher... this changes the OP completely. If it touched the batter and the batter is still in the box, then by rule it's a foul ball, even if it was in that small corner of the batter's box that is in fair territory. If it touched the catcher, then it is either fair or foul based upon where it was when it touched the catcher (if this occurred directly over home plate - the ball is fair!). The fact that it then bounded a mile foul is irrelevant - it gained it's fair/foul status the second it was touched.
Perhaps your ball hit the catcher directly over the plate and deflected 12 feet foul - then the umpire's call was right - fair ball, play on.