Infield fly rule?!?!

[Stutz]

Runners at 1st and 2nd, pop-up hit, Umpire calls for infield fly rule. Fielder drops the pop up, runners begin to advance (shouldn't have, but they did), fielder picks up ball and steps on 2nd base. The call was batter is out on "infield fly rule" and the runner trying to advance to second is out on the force. Can their be a force out on the infield fly? Runners are not "forced" to go, so I don't understand how their can be a "force" out.

 

[Mike Hurd]

Runners at 1st and 2nd, pop-up hit, Umpire calls for infield fly rule. Fielder drops the pop up, runners begin to advance (shouldn't have, but they did), fielder picks up ball and steps on 2nd base. The call was batter is out on "infield fly rule" and the runner trying to advance to second is out on the force. Can their be a force out on the infield fly? Runners are not "forced" to go, so I don't understand how their can be a "force" out.

No, the runner would have to be tagged for it to be an out.

 

[eddieq]

It should not, but it always amazes me how many people (umpires included, apparently) don't know this rule and its application. It's the same rule in every stick/ball game played.

And Mike is correct - the force was off at that point. Tag them for the out.

 

[Cougars]

Do I know you?????

We had this exact same thing happen to us a couple weeks ago. I was in the process of scoring the runner that came home from third and the ump is announcing double play on the force out at 2nd...

I know there is an ump "shortage", but we have had a few just plain bizarre rulings this season, and by umps that seem to be experienced "patched" umps.

 

[grcsftbll]

Our coach had to argue almost this exact thing once. I realize it's a rule that a lot of lay people don't understand but we shouldn't have to explain it umpires.

 

[Strike2]

One of the most mysterious rules in baseball / softball. The whole point of the rule is to remove the "force" by calling batter out. I can understand a spectator not understanding, but an umpire??? What age?

 

[djcarter1966]

Just teach your girls to go to the base and stay there though. If the girl turns around and just goes back to the dugout I don't think the umpire has the recourse to rule the girl safe with the defender on the bag with the ball, actually she is probably out as soon as she leaves the baseline for the dugout. Now if she is on the bag without being tagged out and the umpire tells her she is out and must go to the dugout then you have recourse. Actually this is a super simple win on protest assuming the UIC knows the rule or takes a minute to go read it.

All you have to do is think about it for two seconds the umpire yells "the batter is out" at that point nothing is forcing anyone anywhere and runners may advance at their own risk.

 

[grcsftbll]

How about the umpires that don't say a word out loud, just hold up the signal? The runners are watching to see if ball is caught. They need to hear "infield fly" so they know how to behave if it is dropped. We had that this weekend. Nobody heard the guy call it, and our runner was only safe by pure luck. Even our base coaches weren't aware of it until the play was over and everyone was confused as to why the batter was out.

 

[Strike2]

Base coaches should know when the IF fly rule is "on".

 

[The Man In Blue]

It should not, but it always amazes me how many people (umpires included, apparently) don't know this rule and its application. It's the same rule in every stick/ball game played.

And Mike is correct - the force was off at that point. Tag them for the out.

I have to agree with eddieq ... there are lots of variations between alphabet codes that we have to memorize (and can screw up) ... but infield fly is NOT one of them. That is one of the few things that is standard across the board (unless you have a younger group that just doesn’t use it).