fair/foul
 

I'm surprised there hasn't been a thread on this yet. Anyway, if you ever doubted the ignorance of the public concerning baseball rules, read the comments on this article. They're approaching 2,000 by now.

Cry foul: Marlins dispute clarity of umpire Bob Davidson's vision - Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

Some might say the thread started at 10:07...but we aren't supposed to talk about that thread.

There is ... sort of - see my thread on Kudos. We were trying to avoid this, you know. :)

ANd yes - people's ignorance is astounding (see SportsNation as well for the same kind of idiocy).

Yea I got a good chuckle out of it.

It bounced in fair territory right after the bag, what's the problem?????????????????????

Had Davidson been any closer to the play, he would have been hit!!!!

+1

You let the secret out of the bag. But I like you thinking.

I briefly scanned that kudos thread. As soon as I saw "rising fastball" I left.

Apparently there's a website where some clown explains fair versus foul, and many of the posters are relying on it for information. These are the people calling other posters fools, morons, idiots, etc., for not knowing this simple universal rule of baseball:

[from the website]

If the ball first lands on the outside of [a foul] line, away from where the fielders are positioned, the ball is foul. It does not matter if the ball is in the infield or the outfield.

One guy says the ball was fowl. Another says where it goes past third plate doesn't matter.

Yes ... the stupid on that site scares the heck out of me. My 12 year old knows this rule. I knew it when I was 12 (probably younger). How do people function with this level of stupid in them?

Rhetorical Question?
 

Easy. They become color commentators.:p

How in the world did the ball bounce back to the inside with two outside spinning bounced under its belt? Weird indeed.

I'm saying that the ball hit something to cause that bounce to the inside. No way that the ball doesn't pass over the base in doing so.

Bad luck that the ball was struck so that it would likely go foul, good luck to hit something to cause the inside bounce, bad luck to get the bad call. A lot of luck in such a game of skill.

If you think baseballs travel in a straight line, especially when they hit the ground, you have not seen many baseballs up close. This is very possible and I have seen something similar before. Not sure it is the exact same, but close. Balls spin, all the time and move just like a pitch. So it is very possible the distance the ball moved around the bag.

Peace

I saw that exact thing last year. I'm PU. Sharply hit ground ball down the 3rd Base line. I definitely see the ball bounce past third base in foul territory and as I'm raising my hands and calling foul, I see the the ball take a sharp turn to the right and sure enough it lands in fair territory. Strange bounce with a lot of spin. Never saw it before and haven't seen it since. Had to explain to the OC that I properly called it foul as soon as it passed the bag. He didn't like it though.

Phillies-Marlins Blown Call Costs Florida A Victory (VIDEO)

I've watched this video several times. At the 0:59 mark, it takes its last bounce before it gets to the bag. If you pause it right at the 0:59 mark as the ball makes its last bounce before getting to the bag, it appears to me that it is ON the foul line. It then passes the base and lands fair at the 1:03 mark.

In watching this, I'm having a hard time believing that it could have hit on the foul line at the 0:59 mark, passed the bag in foul territory, and then landed in fair territory.

Thoughts?

And, by the way, you'll have to ignore the TV guys. They go crazy at the 1:03 mark when it lands fair. They're ignoring the vital part of the play, which is what happens between the 0:59 mark and the 1:03 mark.

Nothing we do not already know if you are talking about the last bounce before the bag.

I cannot say for sure. I will never say this was a right or a wrong call. But the reality is the umpire was right there and had a much better angle than we got to see. I do know that the ball does funny things and having been in that situation you can see the play much more clear than we get with the tape that was provided. And even if you had replay, this would have been inconclusive.

Peace

I agree with you that replay would have done no good on this play. I think its even more convincing to me since Davidson was way off the line when making the call, which would make the ball seem more fair to him than foul; so obviously he saw exactly where the ball hit to make his call.

Thanks
David