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Originally Posted by Skahtboi
Oh, come on now. I believe we have covered this many times before. This is one of the very basic rules in the coaches rule book. Also, you are aware that you cannot call it a fair ball when the player is clearly standing in foul territory and touches the ball in fair territory. Also, if the player touches the ball in fair territory, and falls with it into foul territory then drops the ball, it is a foul ball.
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And believe it or not, this rule came back to bite me on the butt not once, but twice last night. Working a varsity for two small (literally one horse, well 1A) schools. First one was a hard shot down the third base line, fielder, with one foot in foul territory fields it cleanly in fair territory (not on the line.) I of course, being the dummy umpire that I am, signal fair ball. BR safe on errant throw. After the inning was over, I hear the coach of the then offensive team tell his player, "you got a lucky break on that one. It should have been a foul. She was in foul territory." (Not a word about the wild throw that F5 made!)
Then toward the end of this "epic" match-up, had another shot by the same team down the first base side. F3, with, you guessed it, a foot in foul territory fields the ball on the line and gets the out. This time, same coach as before, comes out to argue. I tried to explain to him that it is not where the fielder is standing, but where the ball is first touched that matters in determining whether it is fair or foul. He will have none of it, and leaves our conversation with the old "you have been getting that wrong all night." (All night? On two calls???)
Anyway, to add to this humor, I hear two dads arguing in the stands behind me. One is taking the approach of "it is where the fielder stands that matters," while the other is taking the correct approach. They get louder and louder, and for a moment I thought that a fight was going to break out between the two of them. Crazy.