You make the call

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Umpire question on if this is an infield fly. Bases loaded and one out. Girl punches a ball about twice the height of the pitcher and the short stop makes a great play and catches it in the dirt. Since someone's opinion was it wasn't an infeld fly since it was behind the Imaginary line between second and third. It was behind this in deep infield. Caught by the short stop. Blue did not call and infield fly and since all the runners had released it became an easy double play.

 

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If the SS made a great play... then it wasn't a reasonable catch... and a reasonable catch is the guidelines for an infield fly.

There's no qualification of any imaginary line... never heard of such a thing... it's a "reasonable" catchable fly ball by an infielder that constitutes an infiled fly decision by an umpire.

 

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Sounds like to me that the runners released because they thought the SS wasn't going to make the play either.... LOL

 

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Umpire question on if this is an infield fly. Bases loaded and one out. Girl punches a ball about twice the height of the pitcher and the the short stop makes a great play and catches it in the dirt. Since someone's opinion was it wasn't an infeld fly since it was behind the Imaginary line between second and third. It was behind this in deep infield. Caught by the short stop. Blue did not call and infield fly and since all the runners had released it became an easy double play.

I'm not an umpire, but I don't believe that the imaginary line has anything to do with the call. The more importan issue is wether the umpire feels that it can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort.

 

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I'm not an umpire, but I don't believe that the imaginary line has anything to do with the call. The more importan issue is wether the umpire feels that it can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort.

Great minds think alike...Spagehetti Man :lmao:

 

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That was my take, never heard of the line! It wasn't anywhere in the umpire casebook and questions I have .
I think the umpire made that one up to please a coach. .

 

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Or he doesn't have a clue !!!!! I pick this reason personally myself. Sounds like he was making stuff up along the way to "justify" his call. Idiots like that I dislike working with.

 

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By pleasing him... a coach would have then realize he really didn't have a clue...LOL

 

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The key phrase is "ordinary effort". If the SS went above and beyond making the play it was not an infield fly. The whole reason for the rule is to prevent the defense from purposely tanking an easy pop up so they can make an easy double or triple play with base runners frozen.

 

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As the hit isn't described as anything hard, but made it at least 10 feet in the air, if ss's back was to the infield at any point and never camped under the ball, then my judgement would be that it was not a routine fly ball in the infield. One would really have to be there to be accurate! Based on the situation I'll assume infield was pulled in, so I'd really want to see the effort to make the call.

 

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A good rule of thumb given to me by an umpire of over 40 years was once the infielder turned her back, to field the ball, it was no longer an "ordinary" catch and not considered an infield fly.

My question is how the infiled fly had any bearing on whether the runners had to tag up or not, and why there was a double play??? Infield fly or not, the runners must still tag up and can only advance after the fielder touches the ball.

 

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I think all the runners thought it would not be caught, so they failed in holding to the base. The SS did not turn her back, she made a one hand catch while running backwards. This is one of those plays, that is she drops the ball, she would have had a easy double play, so the runners were trying to release in case she did drop it. It would have been an easy force force play if she dropped it. . The umpire was standing by the SS did not indicate infield fly, which would have froze the runners. Since second base was running to the ball along with the short stop, it was a quick flip to second for the double play.

 

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My understanding is it's the home plate umpires job to make the call, he signals the base umpire that it is in effect with a right hand and fist closed to the left chest. It's a judgement call and not automatic, but agreeing with LK the runners should of never left the bag until the ball was caught or dropped, so the infield fly should of had no bearing on the runners leaving the base early. Either way the batter was still out on the catch, my feeling is the runners or the coach's on the bases made a bigger mistake by sending or letting the runners take off.

 

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I just think it is one of those plays where the runners just get left in that " no-where land" situation.

One of those you lose if you do and you lose if you don't.

 

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Agree on the runners, my only question was the so called line? There was also a fair ball that bounced in fair territory then crossed over first base in foul territory. It did not matter in the outcome of the game. Seems to be some very basic things being missed this year.

 

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Fair ball if it went over the bag of course

 

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Agree with QM, since it hit in fair territory first. I've never heard of the line SB, but it could be something an umpire personally uses for determining their judgememt of a infield fly or not. I'm assuming bretman will put that issue to rest some time today? lol

 

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No he called fair ball when it hit, then it bounced to the right side of first base and did not cross over it. He just made the call too early. Like Roger stated, I will let bretman see if he has heard of the line. When I took the test he sent me and the questions in the umpire case manual I cannot find that one. I have a few more years before the dd stops playing, then I will be the one they can yell at again. It is a tough job to be an umpire and you find very few young umpires in the game today.

 

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Nope, there's no line a ball has to cross or be inside of to be called an Infield Fly.

The rule book does define "the infield". The definition is the portion of the field in fair territory that is normally covered by the infielders.

On this play, it really does sound like the runners (or, their base coaches) are more to blame. If it was called an Infield Fly, then they should have stayed close to their bases since they are no longer forced to run. If it wasn't, they should have stayed close to their bases until they were sure if the ball would be caught or not.

Here's a hypothetical question: How high does an Infield fly have to go before it's considered an Infield Fly?

The answer is, there really isn't any set height. A batted ball can be four different things: A bunt; A grounder; A line drive, or; A fly ball. And that's all we really have to choose from.

By rule, the first three can never be an Infield Fly. So, that kind of narrows it down! The rules define a line drive as a batted ball that travels parallel or near to the ground for most of it's flight. That really narrows it down! A fly ball is one that is airbourne and traveling a non-linear path, away from the ground.

If the ball has any arc to it, and it can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort, it's best to call the Infield Fly. This protects the runners if the ball is dropped, as they are no longer forced to advance. The logical result should be one out, either on the Infield Fly call or the catch- poor baserunning by the runners not withstanding!

 

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Dan, on the "fair/foul" call, this should have been easily correctible by the umpire- if he later realized that he called it too soon.

An incorrect "fair" call, when the ball subsequently becomes foul, is easy to fix. Just change the call to foul- the ball is dead and everybody has to go back.

Not true for the opposite! If a ball is called "foul" too soon, you're stuck with it. You can't change that one back to fair, because players quit playing when they hear "foul ball". The umpire has to eat this one. Once foul, always foul.