[DownTownTonyBrown]

I never said I agreed. I just got tired of arguing the inane. I'm feeling refreshed today.

I really haven't learned anything new from our discussions about the Infield Fly but I have learned that some of you here have big enough voices (and professional clout) that you could probably push any call, no matter what the controversy, through the game/managers. And if the managers don't like your call, you eject them. That's our authority as umpires - used correctly or abused, that is our authority.

I sense that we are all arguing the same thing. Yet each of us has in our minds our own vision of a particular fly ball, that we likely called correctly, but are unable to portray that vision verbally in this forum so everyone will agree with our call. (I also realize there may be several contrarians with loud voices and professional clout, that will jump in and disagree with this paragraph. So be it.)

I personally will never call an infield fly that I don't feel could reasonably be caught. That is my condition of ordinary effort - the ball could be caught. Runners can, and do, make this decision too. The vast majority of the time my decision and the runner's decision will be the same. Runners are not going to wait for my decision; if they don't think the ball can be caught, they are going to be moving. That's what runners do. They know the difference between a hit and an infield fly nearly as well as I do. I just get to call the infield flies (or not). My call is the true determining factor and the runners must live with my call.

Don't misunderstand. My judgement is independent and final. I don't meet with the runners, while the ball is in the air, and hold a voting session discussing angle of trajectory, defensive positions, how many beers the shortstop drank the night before, which players have peg legs, what mit size they are using, wind speed and direction, where the sun is, color of uniforms, color of the ball, which bat was used... I just make the call... as do you. And that call is final... done and over with.

I can't possibly be alone, amongst this crowd, in recognizing there are balls hit, which land in the infield, and that were not catchable (a poorly/miss-hit ball that goes 25 feet up and lands 15 feet in front of home plate between the 1, 2, and 5 positions - it will probably roll foul anyway). Even if the entire defensive team is leaning against the outfield fence with their mits on the ground, smoking cigars and exchanging phone numbers with buxom blonde fans, I will not call that hit an infield fly. Neither should you. But, if you are loud enough and eject enough coaches, I think you could get away with it.

I still am immensely impressed with the caliber of people invovled in this thread. I am anxiously looking forward to their excited responses. Page 4 here we come!

PS. TimC, I have since realized that a great part of this thread is all in fun/comraderie.