Pujols HR reviewed

[yawetag]

I haven't seen the replay yet. Did the ball hit the wall and then go over, or did it hit the wall and drop into the field?

[Rich]

Originally Posted by yawetag

I haven't seen the replay yet. Did the ball hit the wall and then go over, or did it hit the wall and drop into the field?

It hit the cement wall (behind the padding) on the top.

[Larry1953]

Originally Posted by yawetag

I haven't seen the replay yet. Did the ball hit the wall and then go over, or did it hit the wall and drop into the field?

From the St Louis write-up:

Pujols' homer hit at the very top of the wall in center field, bouncing back onto the field of play. The call was so close as to require replay, and even on video, it wasn't entirely clear that the ball had fully cleared the wall. However, the umpires upheld the original call, giving the Redbirds a 2-0 lead.

[txump81]

The replay I watched this morning wasn't very conclusive. The ball could have hit the top of the wall or just above the padding. Not sure of the ground rules in St. Louis so I can't say either way. I would think that if a ball hits the wall and comes back in, it should be in play. St Louis has no yellow line denoting out of play vs. in play.

I do agree with Larry, I think the umpires should have let the play go on and not have ruled it a HR so soon. The ball hit and bounced right back to F8 and they were already ruling a HR before Pujols hit 2B.

Video

[txump81]

I have now heard a couple different versions of what happened.

According to DiMuro, the ball skipped off the top of the wall and hit concrete beyond the wall and bounced back.

According to another media outlet, the official ruling from MLB was that since the ball hit above the padding, it was a HR. It didn't matter that it didn't clear the wall, just that it cleared the padding on the wall.

To both of these, I have to say WOW!!!

According to said media outlet, MLB has corrected this ground rule and now a ball must clear the fence to be a HR. (you think)