Fair or foul

[mbroman]

I have a question about whether or not a very unlikely scenario would be fair or foul.

A ball is hit with a lot of spin, it hits in foul territory somewhere between home plate and third, the massive spin carries it back into play over/inside the base, but then spins back landing again past the base in foul territory.

This ball never touched fair territory, yet this bounding ball still went over the base, is this unlikely scenario a fair or foul ball?

Thanks for playing

Edited February 11, 2025 by mbroman
Clarification

[grayhawk]

Fair

[beerguy55]

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...

 

A FOUL BALL is a batted ball that settles on foul territory between home and first base, or between home and third base, or that bounds past first or third base on or over foul territory...

 

It would have to be an incredibly windy day for your scenario to develop  (inanimate objects rarely change the direction of their spin in mid air, with no other force/object to alter its direction - though it's not unheard of), but if it were to come up, the rules lay it out.

It is definitely fair.

The interesting conversation is if the ball crossed the base partly over both territories, as the definitions don't clearly say what is ruled in practice...that is, a foul ball must be completely over foul territory....however, in that scenario, it would be easy to support a judgment that the ball never did cross over the base, and was never in fair territory.  (whether you are the umpire or the coach, the asinine side of the argument is claiming that a ball that never touched fair territory, but while it was moving, spinning and changing directions three feet in the air above the base, you were able to see that one inch of the ball touched fair territory...)

In short, just from the optics you want to be REALLY sure it crossed into fair territory before passing the base.

The rules support a fair ball - the coach is going to argue this, in many cases - you want that argument/discussion to be about the rule, not the judgment.

[The Man in Blue]