Come on, Blue: What the @X$! Is an Infield Fly, Anyway?

"COME ON, BLUE" is a typical preface to unsolicited remarks to an umpire by a player, parent, fan or coach who feels they or their player have been wronged. Mark will write a series of articles under "COME ON, BLUE" explaining various common baseball misconceptions.

Okay. (deep breath)

One of the most misunderstood rules in baseball is the INFIELD FLY RULE. 

One of the reasons this rule is misunderstood is that it's a very "wordy" rule. You have to talk a lot in order to properly educate people about what really happens when the umps point up all at once and start yelling.

A little history: The Infield Fly rule was brought in as a result of fielders intentionally dropping a fly ball.

Why would they do this?

Easy. When there's a runner on base, we all know that they are forced to advance to the next base when the batter heads for first with a chance to be safe, i.e. hits a ground ball. Right?

Okay. So, theoretically, if a fly ball is hit to the shortstop, and he sees that there's a man on first base, what if he a) lets the ball drop instead of catching it, b) fires the ball to second base, and c) the second baseman relays the ball to first, thereby getting a double play...out of a fly ball? Smart guy, eh?

However, if you were the offensive team's manager, like Frank Robinson in the picture above, suffice it to say that you'd be getting thrown out right about...now.

Right? Right.

"COME ON, BLUE, HE CAN'T DO THAT..." Of course, it's the UMPIRE'S fault...but I digress.

So, obviously, MLB had to do something to prevent this from happening. You with me so far? (Good, because I was starting to wander a little myself...)

The powers that be met, and, being mostly lawyers in their former lives, came up with THIS gem:

"An INFIELD FLY is a fair fly ball, (not including a line drive nor an attempted bunt) which can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort, when first and second, or first, second, and third bases are occupied, before two are out. The pitcher, catcher and any outfielder who stations himself in the infield on the play shall be considered infielders for the purpose of this rule."

I'm struggling not to laugh right now, because I know exactly what your faces look like right now.

"Yeah, thanks a bunch, Blue. THAT helped a lot."

Okay, let's take this step-by-step.

First things first. To have an infield fly situation, there MUST be runners on first & second OR first, second & third. Got it?

All right. Now, the batter hits a pop fly (not a liner or bunt). Here's the key: The umps have to think that a fielder can catch that pop-up with ORDINARY EFFORT (huge words, hence the all caps) in the infield. 

If they think the fly ball is catchable, the umps will (hopefully all together) point their fingers straight up and bellow, "INFIELD FLY! IF FAIR, BATTER IS OUT!"

What's that do? It means that, with the batter already out, the runners aren't forced to go to the next base, which means that there's no longer the possibility of a dropped-ball double play.

So, when you're explaining it to the hot girl (um, devoted baseball fan) whose boyfriend has no idea what just happened, keep it, er, as simple as you can.

"With 1 or 2 outs, runners on first & second OR bases loaded, if the batter hits an easy pop fly that an infielder SHOULD catch, the umps will call him automatically out."

That will usually suffice to a) explain the play, and b) make you look like a baseball genius, whom said girl should probably take to the ballgame instead of her ignoramus (I love that word) boyfriend. If girl (or 'Ramus) want to know more, go back to Paragraph 3 ("A little history") and give 'em the full-wattage dose of your ball brilliance.

You're welcome.

By the way, the umps' "infield fly" call is not always automatic. Witness last year's World Series: Feliz of the Phillies (great name) hit a pop-up to the Tampa Bay infield. There was one out, and runners on first and second base. No infield fly was called...er, why not?

The short answer: wind and rain.

Ask Tim Tschida, veteran MLB umpire (and on the field for the game in question), for specifics.

Tschida explained that "The infield fly rule requires the umpires' judgment to determine whether or not a ball can be caught with ordinary effort, and that includes wind" and that the umpires' determination was that in this case there was no infielder who could make the play with "ordinary effort."

In other words, the catch has to be a SURE THING in the mind of the umps for them to call it—as it should be—because they really don't want to be the ones making outs on the field. Umpires would rather, all in all, leave it to the players.

Mark Dewdney is a failed player and, as a result, a long-time Canadian umpire, typically found on a midget, junior, or senior ballfield somewhere in Toronto.

Have a question? An idea for an article? Drop me a message, question, or comment. I'll get as many as I can answered.