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Fair or Foul Ball?


Howard
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Question

A batter hits a ball down the 3rd base line in fair territory.  The ball hits the front of the 3rd base bag and then ricochets foul before the ball passes the 3rd base bag.  Is the ball fair or foul?  Keep in mind that the ball hit the front of the bag but not the top of it.  I have heard different answers to this question.  Please respond if you know the answer.  Thank you.  

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40 minutes ago, JonnyCat said:

Fair ball. Ball hits the 3rd base bag, its a fair ball. Doesn't matter what happens after that. See OBR 2.00, definition of a fair ball.

Exactly. The qualification for a fair or foul ball in this situation BEGINS at the front of the bag. Once it passes that, everything else is irrelevant. 

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Actually, the definition of Fair Ball used to be in rule 2.00--prior to 2015. Now, the definitions of the basic terms of the game are in an appendix at the back of the rule book titled simply Definitions of Terms. By definition, it is a fair ball if the batted ball touches any part of the base (emphasis added)--

A FAIR BALL is a batted ball that settles on fair ground between home and first base, or between home and third base, or that is on or over fair territory when bounding to the outfield past first or third base, or that touches first, second or third base, or that first falls on fair territory on or beyond first base or third base, or that, while on or over fair territory touches the person of an umpire or player, or that, while over fair territory, passes out of the playing field in flight…

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9 hours ago, Howard said:

 I have heard different answers to this question.  Please respond if you know the answer.  Thank you.  

Three possible different answers you might have heard:

 

1) Fair.

2) Of course it's fair.

3) WTF difference would it make whether the ball hit the face of the bag or the top of it?  It's fair.

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