Expert: John McInnis - 4/26/2004

Question
John,

If a batted ball hits in foul territory, then rolls and hits the back of the left side of 3rd base, is is fair or foul?  Our adult ump said foul.  My interpertation was that the base in all in fair territory and the call should be fair.  Your thoughts?  Do you have any thing to back it up?

Thanks,
Jeff  

Answer
Hi Jeff,

In our league, the ball you describe would be declared foul.  It did not enter the diamond area before third base, rather, it bounced foul and then struck the back (foul side) of third base.  The ball crossed the foul line and from where it touched was declared foul.

You could discuss the matter with your league but the ruling won't change.  In our league, all umpire decisions are final on the field. Most leagues are like this too. If you have problems with scoring, game times, declared innings, player eligibility...these are things that can be disputed.  Umpire decisions are "at the moment" and impossible to judge.  

I read somewhere that in MLB they are considering computer analysis of umpire calls.  Of course, the umpires are furious about this.  Imagine, every game they would be evaluated and given a rating.   

To error is human, to really screw up is an umpire.

JohnMc