Fixable or not?
 

A friend described this play in a tournament we were both working this w/e. IFR situation and a routine fly ball is hit in the IF. As its coming down about 15 feet in fair territory he calls "Infield fly, batter is out." Defense, for some reason chooses to let the ball fall uncaught/untouched and (you guessed it) it takes a logic defying bounce and becomes a foul ball.

He said that he would have used the "if fair" caveat if he had any thought it might go foul.

My friend let the IFR call stand because he verbaled the batter out and the defense made no attempt to play the ball, in his opinion because of his verbal call.

So the question is can an IFR call made in this manner make a foul ball into an out. As I'm writing this I checked OBR and it say's the batter is out when an infield fly "is declared," so I guess that answers my own question.

Does anyone see it differently?

Mike

the ball was foul. you can't have an infield fly that is foul. end of story.

Umpire declares "Infield fly, batter is out if fair"

Which means, if it is not fair, then the batter is not out because it is not a IFF, but a foul ball.

You are correct about OBR, when an IFF is declared the batter is out, if it is a fair ball. Not foul.

Bobby is right. I should have read the entire rule. It specifically addresses this exact situation. Foul ball, even if declared.

The declaration doesn't make the batter out, the infield fly does. A foul ball can't be an infield fly.