Expert: Dennis Girardi - 4/27/2008

Question
at a game the other night, a ball was hit down the first ball line, the ball went over the first ball bag, down the line and then landed on the foul line and bounced out of bounds, what is the call?

Answer
Hey Rod,

If the foul line is chalked past the first base line, then the umpire will hardly ever call a ball the hits in foul territory a fair ball. Even if it crosses first base (in the air) not many umpires have the guts to make such a bold call.
Yes it should be a fair ball if the ball crosses over first base and then hits foul. It's just never called that way.. Also the umpire might have thought, in his opinion, that it never crossed in fair territory.  Now if the ball hit on the line and then it was called foul, then we have a problem..

Dennis