Trapped 3rd Strike...

[JJ]

Sorry, my wording wasn't great. A foul tip IS a foul ball, it's just a caught foul ball that goes directly from the bat to the catcher's hands and is legally caught (in FED, "by any fielder"). Linguists might argue that it's not a "foul" ball, rather, it's a "batted ball", but I'd be hard pressed to see any foul tip that is a fair ball .
I also was thinking the plate umpire had thought the ball hit the ground, which is why he called it foul, which is why I said "he might have to eat the call", because as others have posted here, once it's called foul it is foul "if uncaught) and the ball is dead. Then Bob came along and made the great point of the possibility of the umpire calling it foul even though it was caught, in which case it's a "play on" situation.
I'm with Bob here all the way. I just hadn't though of ALL the scenarios when I made my OP. I'll try and do better.

JJ