Got me thinking

[UmpTTS43]

While watching a game today, I was sitting with a friend of mine and he was asking me rules questions. Then we see this. Batted ball goes straight back, hits catchers mask and goes straight up about 10 ft in the air. The ball lands on the ground, foul ball. Then he asks me, "If the catcher would have caught that is that an out?"
"Nope, foul ball."
"Why?"
"It hit his mask first."
"What if the ball goes up first, like a regular pop foul, and the ball hits his mask while he is wearing it and he catches it before it hits the ground?"
"Out and the catcher is a dumba** for not taking his mask off."
"What's the difference?"

Obviously the ball made contact with the mask prior to the catch in both situations, but different results. It started to make me think about how I would justify a no catch call on the first sitch if the coach wanted an explanation per the rules. After searching my library, no J/R however, it was very difficult to find a rule to justify my call, but this is what I came up with:

A FOUL TIP is a batted ball that goes sharp and direct from the bat to the catcher’s hands and is legally caught. It is not a foul tip unless caught and any foul tip that is caught is a strike, and the ball is in play. It is not a catch if it is a rebound, unless the ball has first touched the catcher’s glove or hand.

By using the "sharp and direct" and "rebound," albeit off of the mask, I have formed my interpretation of the sitch and feel I could sell this to a reasonable coach.

Any thoughts or opinions? It's just my luck that J/R would cover this and make me look like the catcher leaving his mask on to catch a pop fly.

Every call should be explainable per the rules, hence my rant.