Whats the call?

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by youngump

No, in my case the ball was foul at the time of the hindrance. The fielder was attempting to field a live ball. It became dead because of the interference and at that point it couldn't be played. There are other pathological situations where you could have interference where you have to assume the ball wasn't going to be dead before it got to the fielder. For example a fly ball where the fielder is shoved out of the way followed by a massive wind blowing it out of play. He wasn't actually making a play because he had no opportunity to retire the runner. However, I've got a dead ball at the time of interference unless I never believed he had a play. I'm predicting the future.

Notwithstanding, I'm mildly but slightly convinced that the intent of the rule here is to make interference while the ball is foul a legal way to avoid being put out. Were I on the rules committee, it'd be changing next year. But that's not going to happen. The OP I am strongly convinced and my variant very mildly.

You can come up with all kinds of bizarre woulda coulda's but in your fly ball example, there is a specific rules that addresses that (re: 7-6-I, 8-7-J-1), and you are calling the situation as it is at the time you call it... it is a foul fly ball and the fielder is attempting to field it. That's it. No Nostradamus required.

The OP should be a simple case of a definitional foul ball, but ASA has confused the rule by saying "runner" and "interferes with". Replace that with "offensive player" and "hinders" and this whole thread goes away.