Fence Out of Play on Thrown Balls

[Mudder]

I was recently advised that any fencing on a diamond that is non vertical, such as the the angled in part of the top of the fence behind the backstop that some diamonds have, or the old "clamshell" diamonds, that have the horizontal fencing over top of the plate area,  is out of play on thrown balls. For example on a play at the plate a throw comes in, bounces off the catcher, and goes straight up and touches any non vertical fencing, its out of play, you'd kill it and award bases.

Is this correct, for OBR only?  If so where is it found in the rulebook, as I don't see it

[Velho]

What you're describing is not the case for a thrown ball. As with any fence, it is true for a batted ball.

What someone may be confused with is versions of those ceilings not being completely closed such that there is an opening facing the back fence. I have seen balls bounce up in there (rare but happens). Those are balls that entered DBT.

[JSam21]

29 minutes ago, Mudder said:

I was recently advised that any fencing on a diamond that is non vertical, such as the the angled in part of the top of the fence behind the backstop that some diamonds have, or the old "clamshell" diamonds, that have the horizontal fencing over top of the plate area,  is out of play on thrown balls. For example on a play at the plate a throw comes in, bounces off the catcher, and goes straight up and touches any non vertical fencing, its out of play, you'd kill it and award bases.

Is this correct, for OBR only?  If so where is it found in the rulebook, as I don't see it

This is just a misunderstanding of what is being said. The non-vertical aspects apply to portions that go beyond the facing of the fence/netting continuing towards the out of play side. Think of the backstop and netting that covers seating areas right behind home plate. A ball going up onto the horizontal portion of that netting would be out of play. 

 

In your situation, unless it hits the top/outside of your fencing, it would remain in play. 

[Velho]

To expand on @JSam21 with photos I was able to find.

It's the difference between hitting the field side of this and still being in play.  

Vs going top side of this netting and rolling back towards the field. That's a dead ball. [Edit: imagine netting over the heads of the spectators. This one doesn't have it but a number of  do]

[BigBlue4u]

Reminds me of my Little League playing days in Seattle.  Our field was on a street corner.  To prevent foul balls from hitting passing cars, we had a clamshell backstop that almost reached the area above home plate.  Infield fly?  Infield fly rule?  Never heard of it.  

[Velho]

13 minutes ago, BigBlue4u said:

Reminds me of my Little League playing days in Seattle.  Our field was on a street corner.  To prevent foul balls from hitting passing cars, we had a clamshell backstop that almost reached the area above home plate.  Infield fly?  Infield fly rule?  Never heard of it. 

Silicon Valley is very similar as well.

What I remember from my Seattle days was cinder dust. Infield always and sometimes the entire field. Those often had no fences so a ground ball hit hard enough was a HR.

I was wide eyed that every field my son played on here in California had a grass infield.