"ground" rule double
 

Evan Longoria hit a long fly to the corner in right field against the Yankees Sunday at Tropicana Field. The ball landed in fair territory and bounced up and struck the extended foul pole screen above the yellow line on the outfield fence and then returned to the field of play. The play was halted, Longoria was awarded a double and the runner on first was held at third.

So, by rule, if a fair batted ball bounces up and hits any part of the foul pole above a yellow line is the ball dead and the batter awarded a double? Is this rule unique to MLB or is it standard at most levels?

Thanks in advance for any answer.

"standard" basically it could go from the foul pole or left down the left field line or foul pole or right down the right field line.

If the foul pole is located behind the fence, yes.

6.09(e): A fair ball, after touching the ground, bounds into the stands,
or passes through, over or under a fence, or through or under a scoreboard,
or through or under shrubbery, or vines on the fence, in which case the
batter and the runners shall be entitled to advance two bases.

I'm sure you've seen or know that a fly ball that hits this "screen" is a home-run. So a two-base award on a bounding ball is consistent with this.

Thanks to all for the answers.

Yes, Bob the ball hitting the foul pole or the screen is universally understood as a home run. But the question of the ball bouncing into the screen was a question posed to me and I was not able to convince the questioner about the logic of the screen and foul pole having the same effect on a fair ball that bounded into either.

Thanks to this forum the answer is simple. The pole and the screen are in the stands and serve as visual aides for the umpire to determine whether the ball entering the stands was fair or foul. If fair on a fly=HR. On a bounce from fair ground=Double.

Thanks

It doesn't matter if the ball bounces from fair ground into FOUL stands, it's still a double. I don't understand why anyone would find this difficult to understand.

Ground Rule Double
 

Where would the ball have gone if the pole and screen were not there?

The difficulty was grasping that the foul pole and screen are part of the stands.
He understands the ball landing fair and bouncing into the stands in foul ground is a fair ball. He thought the pole and screen were part of the playing field and, therefore, a ball bouncing into either and then back on to the field was ion play.

Some HS fields (though none around here) have foul poles that are inside the fence. Those are in play. All MLB parks have their poles outside the fence and thus out of play.

They don't groundrule them "outside"? Wow!

Besides, unless its far from the fence it's a pretty easy "fix" to put a short piece of fence in front of it.

Around here if that happens, there's usually a line on the pole -- above the line, it's out. In this situation, a double.

How about the line toward the centerfield side of the Green Monster in Fenway? If it hits the line is it in play? My guess would be that it would need to be clear of the line on the centerfield side to be a homer but I'm not that familiar with Fenway. Been there just once.

Yep, same here.

Agreed. But, it's in direct conflict with some FED interp (for those who are sticklers about such things).