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Funny - I read the same statement and get opposite meaning. There is a difference between a touch and a catch, obviously. You can have a touch, without a catch. But you cannot have a catch without a touch. Rules regarding when a baserunner is released from a bag refer to first touch... but this doesn't mean that a ball caught without a bobble was never touched. A catch INCLUDES a touch. It BEGINS with a touch.
The statement you've quoted includes the words "(not caught)" in order to tell us that what matters regarding foul/fair is when the ball is TOUCHED, not when it is CAUGHT. It does NOT mean that the ball is not foul if it was caught. It was foul when it was first touched. If the rule meant to say what you think it says, it would not say "(not caught)", it would say "(uncaught)". The only reason for the "(not caught)" part is so the rules are clear in a case where a player first TOUCHES the ball in foul (or fair) ground, but completes the catch in fair (or foul) ground - what matters regarding fair/foul is where it was when TOUCHED, not CAUGHT.
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"Many baseball fans look upon an umpire as a sort of necessary evil to the luxury of baseball, like the odor that follows an automobile." - Hall of Fame Pitcher Christy Mathewson
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Tue Feb 28, 2006, 10:22am
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