Fair foul question

[Jay R]

Here is a comment regarding fair and foul balls from the OBR rulebook.

Rule 2.00 (Fair Ball) Comment: If a fly ball lands in the infield between home and first base, or
home and third base, and then bounces to foul territory without touching a player or umpire and before
passing first or third base, it is a foul ball; or if the ball settles on foul territory or is touched by a player
on foul territory, it is a foul ball. If a fly ball lands on or beyond first or third base and then bounces to
foul territory, it is a fair hit.


Here is my question. When a fly ball lands between the mound and second base and then bounces untouched to foul territory between home and first. is the area behind the mound considered beyond first base? I always thought the answer was yes but a fellow ump disagrees. If the answer is no, how far does the ball have to fall to be considered beyond first or third base?

[bossman72]

Well FED clears this up with the imaginary fair/foul line running from first to third. If it hits past that, it's fair.

OBR, some would say, that the imaginary line to mean 'past' is if you drew a line from first base to second base (that's the 'past first' line) and drew one from third to second (that's the 'past third' line). However, there really hasn't been an official interpretation stating this.

[greymule]

Fed observes that imaginary line between 3B and 1B. Neither OBR nor NCAA has any such provision. [2006 BRD, 103]

Some posters have argued otherwise, but until I see an official interpretation to the contrary, I'm going with the lines as bossman72 described them. I am as certain as anyone can be that those lines are correct.

Thirty years ago, I posed to the Sporting News the same question Jay R asked, except that I added that the ball "fell a few feet short of 2B" and spun foul. I received a brief answer: "Foul ball. The ball didn't pass a base."

[briancurtin]

Originally Posted by SAump

Perhaps a 90 feet arc from the plate would elliminate this variable distance requirement past 90 feet and set 90 feet as a more appropriate mark.

How would an umpire judge that? You have a few guidelines to go off of: straight line from 1st to 3rd in some cases, and 1st to 2nd/2nd to 3rd in other cases. Are you really suggesting that an umpire is supposed to judge the actual distance that a ball traveled as being greater than or less than 90 feet, instead of "yes, it passed (or didnt pass) a direct line from two obvious points on the field"?

[jicecone]

I am open to anything but, will the person that has ever witnessed this event, (ball hitting behind mound between mound and second base),

PLEASE STAND UP.

Maybe if the game was being played on asphalt, otherwise I just can't see it happening.

IMO it is probably why there is no answer because it has never happened.

?????????????????

[bobbybanaduck]

fellas, you are over thinking the thing. past first or third base means past FIRST or THIRD base. the foul lines run right along the edge of either bag. no matter where the ball initially lands, if it spins back untouched and crosses into foul ground by passing over the section of the foul line that extends from the plate to the base (marked in yellow in the diagram below), it is a foul ball. if it crosses into foul ground by passing over a section of the foul line that is at or beyond first or third base (marked in green in the diagram below), it is fair.

the blue curved line is indicating a towering fly ball in the infield. let's say this ball lands where this line ends in the area between the mound and the shortstop. for some reason, nobody is able to get a glove on it. let's assume it had so much spin on it that when it finally landed it took off spinning backward and rolled, untouched, across the 3rd base line and settled in foul ground (indicated by the purple line.) this is a foul ball. the distance it traveled has nothing to do with judging fair or foul.

the only thing we use to judge fair or foul is where the ball actually crossed the foul line. theoretically, you could move this same situation in the diagram so that the ball lands behind the shortstop in the outfield and then spins all the way back to the same spot as marked in the diagram. where did it cross the foul line? before the first or third base bag. foul ball. will it ever happen? probably not, unless, like was stated in another post, you are playing on asphalt or the old school artificial turf (not the field turf, the stuff that is carpet over cement like the old domed stadiums.)