Ground rules question

[bob jenkins]

The fielder raising his hands is just indicating (a) "hey -- umpire -- come out and take a look", and (b) "I didn't touch / push the ball out of play."

When a ball in near the bottom of the fence, there's no real way to tell from the infield whether it's just in play or just out of play. So, if the fielder grabs it, we're going to assume it was always in play. And, if he reaches for it, we're possibly going to assume that he pushed it out of play to "hold" the runner to a double.