Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich Ives
Go back and read Bob Jenkins post. The ball is dead. The exception is that the runner is not out.
The ball did not pass an infielder in the OBR baseball sense. Passing means through or within reach of the fielder. Neither happened in your play.
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I get that the typical situation my reference applies to is a sharply hit ball (whether a grounder or in the air) that a strikes a runner behind a fielder. You don't penalize the runner for going behind the fielder to avoid interfering if he is subsequently hit with the ball because the fielder missed it.
I've also read Bob's post, which I'm now interpreting to mean that this is always a dead ball situation. From there, I'm trying to determine where I missed the rule declaring it so, or if there is an interpretation I've missed that you based your last post on that says OBR never views this within the realm of immediately passing an infielder. I've honestly never had a runner hit with an infield fly, and have been lucky enough to not need to be sharp on this area. Now that it is in front of me, I'd rather figure it out and be solid for when it does happen.
Going back to the original situation, let's say the first-baseman is standing immediately in front of the bag (maybe just a foot but certainly close enough that the runner is operating on the assumption the fielder will catch the ball and keep him from being hit). The fielder reaches up but still misses the ball, which then hits the runner while still touching first base. Would this still be an immediate dead ball situation? I use this example to ask if there is an absolute ruling on this general situation or if there is any judgement component that could lead to the ball remaining live.