I stirred up a hornet's nest with this question. Had all types of answers and the reasons why... Simple question....

Batter swings and makes contact. The ball first hits the ground in foul territory outside the opposite batters box. Ball then rolls into fair territory down first baseline where it is touched by 1b. Is this considered a fair ball or is it dead as soon as it first touches foul territory?

Depends on the BALL.

If the BALL was in motion, in Fair territory when touched by F3...Fair (sounds like your situation)

If the BALL was in motion, in Foul territory when touched by F3...Foul

If the BALL came to a rest in Fair territory and then touched by F3...Fair

If the BALL came to a rest in Foul territory and then touched by F3...Foul

nickrego

Ball was first in foul terr. and then rolled into fair terr. & stayed in fair terr. where it was touched by 1B. I agree with your first statement. We had some guys say as soon as the ball hit in foul terr. first it was foul no matter what. Some others had different idea. Thanks for the response...

At the risk of being a smart-***, you need some new guys (or the gys you were asking were raw rookies -- and we've all been there). On some fields, a slow roller downthe line can go into fair and foul territory a couple of times before the status of the ball can be determined.

its dead if/when its touched in foul territory (the ball, not the toucher), not before.

These are the same fans in the stands that yell "Foul ball, it hit the plate."
We don't care where it hits before reaching the imaginary line between 1st and 3rd (as long as it doesn't hit an object in foul territory). It's the location of the ball when first touched by a player.

Sadly enough, i had a coach yell that same statement to me this year.... sigh...

Even sadder, a partner I was with this year (he was PU) called this.

"FOUL BALL, OFF THE PLATE!!" Everyone stops dead in their tracks, and NEITHER coach said a word.

Except in Fed, I don't think this is right.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but i think i heard that the FED rule of the "imaginary line" is based on an MLB interpretation.

consider yourself corrected.

What imaginary line between 1st and 3rd ?

What does FED vs. MLB have to do with determining a Foul Ball ?

FED says if the ball hits beyond an imaginary line from 1st to 3rd it is a fair ball. OBR does not. It's apparently FED's attempt to describe what "beyond first or third base" means.

I guess you would never know that I re-read the FED and Babe Ruth rules before every season, if I had to ask that question...

I'm putting a note in my FED book to look for this statement when I read it next year. For the life of me, I can't remember ever reading that before.

Thanks,

Check out rule 2-5-1b. It's a "nice to know rule" but I have never seen a ball land beyond this line and then spin into foul territory before reaching 1st or 3rd.