Well you do if you call it spectator interference. Though whether you can seems less clear. If the fans of the other team threw a medicine ball at the fielder intentionally you'd call it interference right? What if they intentionally threw a softball? So the only difference here is that they weren't watching the game and they didn't do it on purpose. That may be enough to hang your hat on, but I think the spirit of the spectator interference rule was to neutralize non-participants impact on the game. I could be very wrong though.

Read spectator interference. It specifically involves A SPECTATOR entering or reaching into the field of play.

I really don't care what happens, other than a medical emergency, once the play started, it is going to finish before I stop play.

And please, a medicine ball? Really? Just how ****ing young are you? Most of the softball spectators I know couldn't throw a medicine ball 2 feet. Next thing you know, you are going to want to stop the play because someone's pet pigeon landed on 2B and scared the SS.

You can "call it" whatever you want to... but calling this spectator interference is no more accurate than calling it an infield fly.

8-2-N: When a spectator reaches into live ball territory and interferes with a fielder's opportunity to catch a fly ball.

Do we have that here? No.

8-5-L: When a spectator interferes with any thrown or fair batted ball.

Do we have that here? No.

We simply have an object that came from elsewhere distracting someone.

I must have sun stroke from working in the heat all weekend, because that line actually made me laugh out loud.

I feel you, YoungUmp; you were searching for a rule reference that related to a nonparticipant or situation (I really didn't read the OP to be suggesting someone threw the ball on the field, I took it more to be a foul ball off an adjacent field) that possibly affected the play on your field.

But, you used a specified and intentionally limited rule to try to cover this; just like we cannot declare umpire interference when an umpire DOES interfere, but not in the defined way, we cannot use spectator interference in the undefined way.

There are two options. 1) Unless you absolutely/positively have someone in imminent danger of serious injury, DON'T be the leming that yells "Time" whenever a ball approaches your field during live play. Sure, if you can stop it before live play, not a bad plan; but once the ball is in live play, 10-4.E says SHALL NOT CALL TIME while any play is in progress. 2) If you DO kill play on your field, the PU has to apply 10-4.G (the ONLY rule that can apply when violating 10-4.E) and make a best judgment ruling awarding bases; and do-over and even apparent outs aren't legal options. Anything else is a lost protest. Since that never leaves people happy, try not to get there.

No, you cannot apply 10.1, either; it is covered in 10.4 that you shall not call time.

Happy to be of service, sir. :)

Obviously you misread the tone of my reply if it was able to make you angry enough to swear at me. The point of using an extreme example is to make one think about the limits of the way one is reading the rule. Obviously it isn't going to happen. So what? The rules supplement is fairly clear and also not in harmony with the actual definition of interference. I don't think positing it for discussion including the phrase at the end I may be very wrong is as terrible a thing as your tone suggests.

That said, I'm content enough with being told that this isn't the way it's done and should it ever happen, I'll know how to deal with it.

Don't think it's sunstroke because we were calling in cloudy weather this weekend and it made me laugh too.

Please clarify if/how wrong you think this is.
Just to be sure I am reading all responses correctly.

Completely wrong. Unfortunate, obviously. But you simply don't kill a play unless you have to.

What happens when this fly ball from the other field hits F4 - and you kill it... and they throw out the BR anyway? You cannot call BR out if you've killed a live ball play.

99% of the time, that errant ball is going to have no effect on the play - perhaps a momentary distraction that doesn't change the outcome. But if you kill play when you see that ball fly onto your field, you've just changed the possible outcome.

Steve, thank you for the RULE, Cecil, I am with you we know that we are playing on fields that are close and it is possible that a SOFTBALL, could fly into our field. Play on and if nothing is effected, good. If in the 1 in a 1,000,000, chance the play is effected deal with it.

+1

Here's one for you from a couple years ago.
I am PU.
B hits a foul ball that has just gone over the fence just beyond the edge of the infield grass on the 3B side.
Lo and behold, a foul ball from the other field collides with our foul ball mid-flight.

What are the odds of that???

I agree now.
Just to clarify, I never said just for a ball/object flying in; only if it struck a directly involved player. As said now, not then either.

Ruling? :D