Foul ball bounces back to fair

[sketch]

At my son's little league game yesterday, we were on the field with the other team batting. The batter hit the ball which rolled down the first base line clearly in foul grounds the whole way. Then something strange happened. The ball hit the edge of the grass and bounced back onto the field before it got to first base. Our team saw it as field interferrence and the other team's coaches insisted that it was fair ball.

My question is simple: Is if fair? The teenage ump was not sure, but ultimately called it fair.

[bob jenkins]

It's a Fair ball.

I do give you credit, though, for coming up with the imaginative "Field interference". I had never heard that one before.

[mbyron]

Damn, that's a good one! "Field interference!" What a hoot! Brightens my rainy Sunday morning...

[C'monBlue]

He should have ejected the field for malicious contact.

[GarthB]

Does this field interference rule appy to those nasty bumps in the field that causes fielders to mishandle ground balls, or just fair/foul situations?

Seriously, no offense intended, where did you first hear about "field inteference?"

[SanDiegoSteve]

"But Blue, that's gotta be FIELD INTERFERENCE!!!"



ROTFLMAO!!!

[UMP25]

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

It's a Fair ball.

I do give you credit, though, for coming up with the imaginative "Field interference". I had never heard that one before.

Just wait, Bob. It'll probably happen in a game you and I are working.

[tibear]

Only thing left is "bat interference" on the batter for hitting a third strike pitch.

[kylejt]

Originally Posted by sketch

The teenage ump was not sure, but ultimately called it fair.

He wasn't confused, he was laughing at whoever was yelling "FIELD INTERFERENCE!" at him. I'm sure glad the ball didn't hit the bag, I can't imagine what the D manager might have thought up for that one.

[celebur]

Way to go, people! Class act all the way.

Originally Posted by sketch

At my son's little league game yesterday, we were on the field with the other team batting. The batter hit the ball which rolled down the first base line clearly in foul grounds the whole way. Then something strange happened. The ball hit the edge of the grass and bounced back onto the field before it got to first base. Our team saw it as field interferrence and the other team's coaches insisted that it was fair ball.

My question is simple: Is if fair? The teenage ump was not sure, but ultimately called it fair.

Sketch, the important thing here is that a grounder rolling on the foul side of the line is not yet a foul ball. There is no such thing as 'field interference', and the ball may very well yet become fair if it is redirected by the grass (or a pebble, or a lump of shale) into fair territory before it passes 1B. The youthful ump, though unsure of himself, got it right.

As mentioned by other posters, you would do well to read the definition of a fair ball and foul ball. This is a very basic concept that all ball players and coaches should understand, which explains certain comments made above.

[RPatrino]

"A ball ain't nuttin till its somethin, and it ain't somethin till i call it"

A ball is not fair or foul until its called such. Good advice to younger players is to assume every ball on the line is fair until the umpire calls it FOUL!!