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Why is a foul tip a foul tip? IOW, why is it a strike instead of an out?
I'm no rules historian, but is seems plausible that the reason it is a strike is because the catcher did not make a play beyond what she would have done for a strike. If the catcher did nothing other than catch the pitch, it would be ruled a strike, regardless of whether it was technically a batted fly ball.
Hence, the going directly to the glove bit.
Hence, giving the catcher the benefit of the out if she actually made a play on the batted ball.
The principle of the case play applies if the catcher lunges anywhere else (besides into fair territory) to catch the batted ball.
In gray area plays, it is umpire judgment whether the catcher is making a play on the batted ball, or moving her glove to catch the pitch.
In WMB's example, the catcher moved her glove "about a foot." Seems beyond the gray area to me, but it is a HTBT - for example, what if the pitch was coming in to the outside - the catcher could have been moving her glove to catch the pitch and just lucked into the batted ball. However, WMB describes it as having an arc and as falling when caught. It seems to me that he is describing a catch, not a foul tip.
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Tom
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