IFF Craziness
 

Had a situation that just made me laugh in a game I was playing in last week, but does go to show how much confusion still surrounds the IFF rule.

Myself on 2nd and my son on 1st with no outs. Sky-high fly ball hit about 20-25 feet behind SS on the grass. PU calls IFF when the ball is almost at the apex with the SS easily setup under the ball, at which point our batter starts screaming that its on the grass and that can't be the call. At this point the craziness gets amped up by the SS missing the catch. Nobody had covered 2nd base, so I was about 1/3 of the way to 3rd and decided to take the base and my son follows to 2nd. The SS recovers and throws to 3rd to try to get me out but the throw is high causing the 3rd baseman to stretch but he still catches it and starts yelling that he held the bag. Unbeknownst to me, the PU called me out, although there was never a tag (I had slid knowing a tag would be required). PU then turns his attention to the argument that is now going on between the BU and the batter who is still saying it shouldn't have been an IFF. That argument gets broken up and the PU states that the batter is out on the IFF and then comes across the diamond pointing at me with a fist up and said I was out on the throw. I simply said that I was never tagged, and after a brief pause, the PU said, "Ok, you're safe then". I'm assuming it clicked to him that it wasn't a force play.

After the game, our batter was trying to get clarification from the BU. I walked over and heard the last part of the conversation, which was basically the BU saying human error is part of the game and that it isn't appropriate for a player to yell at an umpire like he did even if they did miss the call. The batter walked away at this point, but now I was confused because other than calling me out at 3rd (which the PU corrected), I felt like they got the call 100% correct. I told him as much and that the end result of runners at 2nd and 3rd with 1 out was what I would have had. He looked completely surprised by my statement that I thought it was called correctly.

both the offense and defense never realize the IF rule is in place to protect the offense from a cheap double-play, not to give the defense a free out.

I wish I had a nickel ... ;) :rolleyes:


And, the OP story looks all too normal.

I was aware :D

The most frustrating thing from my perspective was that our batter was arguing against the IFF. Without it I would have been forced at third and we would have had 1st and 2nd with 1 out instead of 2nd and 3rd with 1 out.

Boomer,
May I copy your main paragraph about craziness for our members, as a teaching tool?
Thanks,
Harry
CecilOne

Sure. I’m glad to share anything that can help someone else learn.

Thank you!

I prefaced it with
"3) The Infield Fly Rule exists to protect runners from cheap double plays; but after decades is still misunderstood. I thought this story from another umpire, unfortunately all too familiar, is amusing. "