Still Lost on the infield fly rule
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"In the interest of fairness, and as I read the above rule, IF needs to be declared at the time of the play. "
Then your reading of the rule is not accurate, the note at the bottom states if it is not called it can be enforced before a pitch is made. Your translation of initially is not what the rule means, it means if the umpires failed to call it they may do so prior to another pitch. As I believe I stated previously, every ruleset, including USSSA have case plays saying it is the situation that makes it an infield fly, not the umpire calling it. The only exception to this is NCAA which states specifically if the umpires must call it for it to be in effect.
Then your reading of the rule is not accurate, the note at the bottom states if it is not called it can be enforced before a pitch is made. Your translation of initially is not what the rule means, it means if the umpires failed to call it they may do so prior to another pitch. As I believe I stated previously, every ruleset, including USSSA have case plays saying it is the situation that makes it an infield fly, not the umpire calling it. The only exception to this is NCAA which states specifically if the umpires must call it for it to be in effect.
The same way the runner knows they should tag up before they advance on a fly out. The same way the fielder knows they have to tag a runner if it's not a force out. Players and coaches should know the rules.
Is it possible that two different umpires would see a play and one would say "that should be caught with reasonable effort" and another would say "that would not be caught with reasonable effort?" If so, then the players and coaches have no way of knowing whether the rule is in effect unless the umpire signals.
You are right that not even the umpires see it the same way 100% of the time. That's why we (the umpires) should call it at the top of the arc and call it loud with the hand signal. That is better for everyone involved. But the rules do allow for applying the IFF even if the umpires did not properly call it in real time. Not a great situation to be in and if the delayed call put the offense or defense in jeopardy, the umpire should clean that up too.
I've been on both sides of it. Once as an umpire I missed the call. A few times as a coach where I would not have thought it was an IFF, the umpire did not call it in real time. Once was a bloop to shallow left that SS never had a prayer to catch and other was a borderline line drive that F4 misplayed. First one was very poor "judgement" of the umpire and he did claim it was IFF in his judgement. The second one needed to be called in real time because it was not a sure thing IFF and not calling it put my runners in jeopardy and resulted in a double play.
So you are right. can't always know what the blue is thinking and it is best to call it when it is supposed to be called. But the rule sets allow the ump to retroactively invoke it.
Well now that everyone knows the rules, the umpire was still wrong with the OP situation lol. He said the runner going from 1st to 2nd was out because she didn't tag up, the ball was dropped so she did not need to tag up.
Except this isn't actually true! It's defined by if the umpire decides to call it. I have seen plenty of obvious infield fly situations where it just wasn't called. I don't know why. But it wasn't. Probably because our umpires are typically bad.
The umpire is the one who has to invoke the rule and make the call. The batter is not automatically out unless and until the umpire says so, and it's frankly absolutely absurd to expect players and coaches to just intuitively know what the umpire is going to decide on a given play when what they decide must be known before any subsequent actions can be taken.
No, the umpire does not have to call it except in NCAA. The rule has been posted and every ruleset has case plays and clarifications stating it is the situation that makes it an infield fly not the umpires call. You may not like it but those are the facts. Take it or leave it, but you have been provided the rule.
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The umpire still needs to make the call whether it is right away or anytime before the next pitch, it says right in the rule that it is up to the umpire's discretion whether the ball is catchable with normal effort. Until an infield fly is called and the batter is declared out, there is no infield fly...
Quote the rules all you want but until an umpire declares it during a game or the call is appealed and overturned then it doesn't matter.
