Thanks, Rog. I'm with you 100%. A fly ball can indeed be caught over the area in question. (Which has always been my argument to my partners for NOT making it a dead ball; otherwise, any popup or batted ball that goes over a dead ball area should also be ruled dead . . . which would be ludicrous. Just imagine if we allowed popups over the backstop that blow back into play, being called "dead") It is impossible to throw "through the dead ball area" in question because the ball would hit the back side of the dugout fence; in which case THEN it would become dead.
BTW . . . I officiated another game at another field that had a similar rule for a "cutout" area in foul territory down the left field line. It was used as a bullpen. If a fielder went into that area to either catch a fly ball or retrieve a ground ball, they required him to run into fair territory before throwing the ball. I never did understand why they had that rule. There were no safety implications whatsoever.
|