[greymule]

The umps gave Robinson the catch and the Orioles the game. Maybe the umps felt that since Frank was in possession of the ball when he went out of sight, the catch was valid, sort of like a ball that leaves the park fair and then curves foul. However, they did wait until he came up with the ball before they gave the out sign, which contradicts that theory.

The play could not happen today in MLB, because all fences in fair territory are too high for a player to jump or fall over. But the fences in foul territory are low enough.

This brings up another interesting play that I went through 25 years ago with Rich Marazzi, who had written a book on baseball rulings:

Abel on 3B, no outs. Baker hits a soft foul fly that F3 chases toward the fence a little beyond the dugout. F3, running hard, makes the catch, hurdles the fence, remains on his feet, and from the box seats fires to F2 to get Abel, who had tagged up after the catch and tried to score. What's the call?

[Edited by greymule on Apr 13th, 2003 at 09:01 AM]