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.

2-5-1b


Source = BRD

Thanks for the reference to 2-5-1b.

Now I remember reading it, but it always struck me as a fly ball issue and never even thought of a ball hitting beyond that line and then going foul by traveling backwards inside that imaginary line. Yikes !

To be honest, if that happend in a game, unless you have a rule book with you to show the coaches, you would go down as the stupidest umpire of the season for calling it a fair ball (even though it is).

Hoping it doesn't happen to me...

I said earlier that I have never seen it happen, but if I did, and called it foul I would not try to show it to him in a rule book. I would also not take kindly to being called stupid, that's personal (one of the 3P's). "Coach, you can look it up when you get home, and apologize to me next time you see me, but today you are gone..."

Calling a ball foul as soon as it hits in foul territory.. HMMMM me thinks that someone is confused with football or basketball amongst some other sports.

<b>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.</b>

I've seen it happen (once). A popup fell fair about a foot short of 1B and 5 feet fair, then spun foul. Though it did fall behind the 1B-3B line, I was greatly disappointed that I still had to call it foul. We were playing OBR rules.

A couple of nights ago, I thought I was finally going to get to make a call I have always wanted to make. Line drive off the pitcher's plate bounced directly back toward home plate. I was preparing to make the foul call of a lifetime, but the catcher stepped in front of the plate and fielded the ball (then threw it away).

Doesn't this discussion hint at a TWP? It's one of those rules that's in the book because it did happen, but the odds of it happening regularly enough to be overly concerned with are...well, you might know it, but to quote it chapter and verse - my preacher doesn't even know the Bible that well ;).

First;

DG, that is a great quote, "Coach, you can look it up when you get home, and apologize to me next time you see me." if the situation presents itself next season, mind if I use it ? Hopefully I wont have to use the, "but today you are gone...", part. Actually, that did happen. A coach last season argued a Batter Interference call so emotionally, that a picture of us ended up on the front page of the Sports section of that town’s newspaper. The next game, he said, well, you were right, but at least I got a picture of us in the paper !

Second;

So what if a ball lands at the base of the center field fence, hits a rock and goes foul between 1st and Home Plate (exaggeration). This rule, that if the ball lands beyond that line, "it's Fair", seems like a way to give players who can't hit the ball hard enough to get it through the infield a chance to get a base hit (exaggeration). Don't they have nicey, nice rules like that in T-Ball, where building self esteem 'is' important ? As usual, I think the OBR rule is just fine.


[Edited by nickrego on Sep 14th, 2005 at 01:36 AM]

It's fair, under all codes. I'm not sure I understand your point.

Quote:

This rule, that if the ball lands beyond that line, "it's Fair", seems like a way to give players who can't hit the ball hard enough to get it through the infield a chance to get a base hit (exaggeration).

It seems to me to be an attempt to define "beyond first or third". That phrase isn't defined in OBR. I'm just guessing that some arguemnet came up in a FED game and this is the definition they chose. You might disagree with the choice, but at least it's clear.

Sure, help yourself to the quote. The only reason The "but today you are gone" part was added was because the poster said the coach called him stupid.