What do you do?

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by CecilOne

I would not kill a play that had started with no effect on either the fielder or BR. I guess that is "a".

If the ball struck one of them, probably have to call a dead.
"b" or "c" depending on who is affected.

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

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by CecilOne

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.

[xtremeump]

Originally Posted by md longhorn

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.

+1

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

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.

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.

[xtremeump]

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.

[tcannizzo]

Originally Posted by xtremeump

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.

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???

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by tcannizzo

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... and deflects it back over the field where it is caught.

Ruling?

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by Dakota

Ruling?

whether it was out of play on contact or in play.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by Dakota

Ruling?

Foul ball. Rule 1. Foul Ball.C

[Skahtboi]

Back to the OP; what we did was exactly what, IMO, we should have done when this happened. We allowed everything to continue to conclusion, had the out at first. Of course, the OC, who was losing and in his last at bat, wanted it to be a dead ball and his runner awarded first. Explained the ruling to him, and we moved on.

What surprised me was the number of umpires after the game who advised that we should have immediately called a dead ball, and ruled on what would have happened in our judgment had the ball hit from the other field not landed on ours. When I pressed them for a ruling to back that, they, as you can probably guess, resorted to the "fan interference" rule. I was floored, so I thought I would see what happened if I posted it here. Guess I shouldn't have been too surprised by their opinions, in hindsight.

[tcannizzo]

Originally Posted by Dakota

Ruling?

Foul ball with a cosmic moment....