fair/foul - then catch/no-catch

[David Emerling]

Originally Posted by Rich

If I'm R3 and there's a ball hit in the air to the outfield, I'm going back to tag.

If it falls, I walk home. If it's caught as a trouble ball, I walk home.

What if it's a looper behind 1st base, in short right field? The right fielder is running in and makes the catch. You're not going tag up on that. Too shallow. You'll get thrown out by a mile.

On a hit like that, tagging up would be a mistake. Because if you go back to the bag and wait to see what happens - if it's not caught, you will probably not be able to score because you have to run 90 feet. The ball may very well get picked up in plenty of time to throw you out.

You're going want to get quite a distance off 3rd so, if it drops, you can get home before the ball can be picked up. If it's caught, you can get back to 3rd safely. You usually don't tag up on shallow hits into the outfield. You get off the bag so that if it drops, you can score.

What you've described would be correct on a ball hit deep down the right field line.

But now we're talking more about how the game is played than how the game is umpired.