too late to call infield fly?
 

Hypothetical situation:

Bases loaded with none out. Batter hits a high fly ball that appears to be headed for the outfield. Suddenly a gust of wind blows it back into the infield. The umpires don't react quickly and the ball lands near the shortstop. The shortstop picks up the ball and starts a home-to-third double play. The offensive team complains that this should have been called an infield fly.

Can the umpires call "infield fly" after the fact (declaring the batter out and returning the runners to their bases)?

An infield fly can only apply when there are less than two outs (none or one) AND 1st and 2nd or 1st 2nd and 3rd are occupied.

Your sitch give us that.
However, the players are responsible for knowing the rules as well as you.
The infield fly happens whether you call it or not, you do have to enforce it.

You should have had batter out on the IF and every other runner can advance AT THEIR OWN RISK.
If they got put out on a tag, they are out, no tag=no out.

Yes, it is never too late to enforce the IF but that doesn't require the other runners to be returned to their bases.

Get in your rule book and read the sections one at a time until you learn them so as to not get taken in by goofy player/coach myths.

Read the OP. He said bases loaded and none out. Dave

Somehow, only part of my post got sent and it was very incomplete at that.
So I fixed it, sorry for any confusion.

My concern with applying the infield fly rule "after the fact" is that the baserunners may have tried to advance thinking they had to because the infield fly rule was not called while the ball was in the air. It seems a little unfair if any of them were tagged out because they thought they had to run instead of running at their own risk.

As Scott said, they are equally responsible for knowing the situation and have base coaches to, well, coach them.

However, in NCAA, if infield fly is not called, it was not in effect, therefor, the batter is not out.

Why would this be unfair?
Would you have allowed a run to score if a runner had crossed the plate when the IF wasn't called?
Now where if the fairness.

Answer this, what is the purpose and intent of the rule?
If you can understand the purpose/intent of a rule then you can apply it correctly.
This applies to all rules and all codes.

Purpose and intent = a correct enforcement of any rule.

Why would you enforce this rule if this ball suddenly blew back? That does not make much sense.

In order to CALL the infield fly rule, you must also have ordinary effort. If the ball falls in, how is that ordinary effort? The goal here is to not give an easy double play, not give an out to the defense cause the offense popped the ball up.

I say NO infield fly and if you dont call it at first, forget it and move on with life. All this talk about it calling itself is true, I guess, but also very unpractical and hard to talk yourself out of.

Orangey

Why would you NOT call the IF when the ball gets blown back in?
This is not a rare occurence, unusual-yes.
In the original sitch, it landed right in front of the F6, I don't see how it couldn't have been caught with ordinary effort.

Way back, when I was doing spring training in baseball we even had this same type of situation occur. The rule is the same for baseball and softball here.

I have seen the ball blown back in from foul territory, I mean way foul, over the stands foul but you still have to call it.

If you don't call/enforce the IF, you are putting the defense at a disadvantage.

Enforce the rules evenly and fairly, that is our job.

Let's not lose sight of the fact that, in your judgment, the ball had to be playable with ordinary effort by an infielder. If the wind was that bad, it may be possible that nothing may have been playable with ordinary effort.

Agreed, but from the way the play is described I can't imagine it not being playable.

but then again, I have been wrong a couple of time in my life.
Usually it was when I thought I had made a mistake...........:D

What is the phobia these people have against posting ALL the info? How high was the ball when it was blown back?

Bob

In reply to Scottk 61, here's where I think some unfairness could arise:

Suppose you are the runner on third base in this situation. You are mindful that an infield fly might be called--but also that it might not be called. The ball lands fair near the shortstop. No infield fly call is made. You logically think, "This is now a force play; I have to run." The shortstop throws the ball to the catcher who chooses to apply a tag. You are out. When the play is stopped, the umpires then decide that it really was an infield fly situation and call it after the fact. The batter is out--and you are out too because you were tagged out since the infield fly call meant you ran at your own risk. Double play. Ouch!

The infield fly rule is designed to protect the offensive from a cheap double play (or even a cheap triple play). In this scenario, it has benefitted the defensive team because of the late call.

Call me silly, but I'd say that is unfair.

Hey Silly,

"Rules is Rules" but you enforce them as you see fit.

Okay, I'm silly.