Foul ball interference.

[MT73]

OBR and FED.

‘Saw this on a FB page.

‘R2  gets tangled with F 5 who is trying to field a batted ground ball down the 3rd base line.

‘In the judgement of the umpire the ball never would have had a chance to be fair.

Do we enforce the interference?

Suppose it was a fly ball which never had a chance of being fair?

[noumpere]

21 minutes ago, MT73 said:

OBR and FED.

‘Saw this on a FB page.

‘R2  gets tangled with F 5 who is trying to field a batted ground ball down the 3rd base line.

‘In the judgement of the umpire the ball never would have had a chance to be fair.

Do we enforce the interference?

Suppose it was a fly ball which never had a chance of being fair?

Ground ball?  Not INT.

 

Fly ball that F5 could (might) catch?  Int.

[beerguy55]

1 hour ago, MT73 said:

OBR and FED.

‘Saw this on a FB page.

‘R2  gets tangled with F 5 who is trying to field a batted ground ball down the 3rd base line.

‘In the judgement of the umpire the ball never would have had a chance to be fair.

Do we enforce the interference?

Suppose it was a fly ball which never had a chance of being fair?

Groundball...if it never goes fair there's nothing to interfere with, is there?   It's not a matter of whether or not it had a chance to go fair...it's whether or not it did go fair...if that ball eventually rolls fair then it's INT, is it not?  I know it's supposed to be an immediate dead ball...but there's a provision on a fly ball(or IFF?) to wait to see if it's fair or foul...wouldn't that apply here too?   What if R3 interfered with F5's attempt to touch the ball to keep it foul, knowing he had no chance to get the B/R?

I don't know about any provision or judgment on whether or not a ball has a chance to go fair/foul...if it's still moving and hasn't been touched its status is not yet determined...period.   And in rolling over pebbles, footprints, edge of the grass...or with the wind...anything is possible.

Fly ball...fair/foul is only relevant to what happens to the batter...why couldn't a fielder be interfered with on a fly ball in foul territory?

[MT73]

Yes—fly ball you wait.

‘But even if foul  the runner is out and batter returns to the plate as any other foul ball.

‘Even if caught.

‘Which made me wonder if the same applied to a slow rolling ground ball up the baseline.

[Velho]

Real world case for those interested

https://www.closecallsports.com/2021/04/ask-uefl-runner-catches-foul-ball-in.html

[MT73]

Well, that settles it.

‘Thanks.