Foul poles,In play or not?
 

Fed rules, a ball hits the foul pole above the homerun fence and bounces back into the field of play, BUT the pole is located INFRONT of the home run fence. Do we have a home run, or a live ball?

It hit above the fence, Homerun.

When you in front of the fence? Are you talking several feet or just a few inches?


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The fair batted ball did not pass over the fence in-flight unless the foul pole is on or beyond the LBT boundary.

2-5-1 . . . A fair ball is a batted ball which:
g. while over fair ground passes out of the playing field in flight.
1. A fly ball or line drive, which passes over or inside first or third base in flight and curves to foul ground beyond such base, is not a fair hit; but a hit which goes over or through the fence is a fair hit if it is over fair ground when it leaves the field.

2-6-1 . . . A batted or thrown ball is in flight until it has touched the ground or some object other than a fielder.

Home run.
Foul pole interference :)

Here's an interp. Note that it deals with a light pole, not a foul pole, and that it's "a few feet" in front of the fence. Note also, that most umpires would ignore the interp and just go along with the coach's suggestion.

SITUATION 6: At the pre-game conference, the home team coach is covering ground rules. He points out that in right field the light pole is a few feet in front of the fence. He mentions that a black tape is around the light pole, about 12 feet above the ground. He states that it is a home run if a fly ball hits the light pole above the tape since the ball would have easily cleared the fence if the light pole were not there. RULING: A ground rule cannot supersede the rules book. A fly ball hitting the light pole above the tape will remain in play and will not be ruled a home run. The batted fair ball must go over a fence in flight before a home run can be awarded. (4-1-2, 8-3-3a)

The foul pole was directly in front of the home run fence but its whole diameter was in fair territory. This was NOT covered in the ground rules because in over a 100 games done on this field over the years I had never seen it and coach who played there as a student and been involved with the program for 30 plus years had never seen it either.

I signaled a fair ball and it was played by all players as a routine play, turned into a stand up double. I agree that if this pole was behind or PART of the fence we would have had a home run. Our chapter will be covering this in our next chapter meeting with instructions to address this at the plate meeting at all future games.

We have a similar situation in our area. The town built a beautiful ball park but the big-league foul poles are, just as in the OP, inside the fence.

Their quick fix: Surround each pole with additional fencing that is attached to the wall, in effect making it a part of it. It looks good and the finished product is safe and secure.

I think this explains it well. Thank you.