Understanding the Infield Fly Rule

When I first started dating The Boyfriend, I started hearing about Baseball Weekend. Baseball Weekend was usually held the first weekend in October at the beginning of the post-season playoffs when you could conceivably watch two games on Friday night, four games on Saturday and another two on Sunday. Baseball fans only need apply and the entrance exam into the weekend was that you needed to be able to define the infield fly rule.

Say what?

You had to be able to understand one of those odd rules in baseball that don’t seem to make much sense but demonstrates that you have a good enough grasp of the subtleties of the games that you wouldn’t be asking dumb questions during the game.

Well, I flubbed my way through that first Baseball Weekend. The Boyfriend coached me, but to be honest, the Infield Fly Rule made no sense to me. I have gone on to enjoy many more Baseball Weekends, but “understanding the infield fly rule” has become a code word for the complexities of baseball. Or knowing the secret password to join the club.

Defensive baseball refers to when your team is not up to bat but is trying to prevent the other team from scoring. The infield takes care of the ball when the ball comes into the infield and the outfield takes care of the ball when it goes into the outfield. The Infield Fly Rule prevents the manipulation of the baseball rules (yes, like accountants, baseball players sometimes take advantage of loopholes).

So here it is: If, with runners on first and second base or with the bases loaded, a high fly ball is hit in or around the infield and it looks like it can easily caught be by an infielder, the umpire will call the batter out before the ball is actually caught. That seems like it favors the defense. I mean what if the guy doesn’t catch it or drops it?

Exactly.

The Infield Fly Rule actually to protects the offense from the old “ooops, look, I dropped it. Now I can pick it up and throw it to third and then to either first or second and get the double play” or the more outright “let it drop to the ground, pick up the live ball and throw it to third base." So let’s go through that again. If the infielder catches the ball and drops it (or lets it fall to the ground before picking it up) the ball is still live and the batter has to run to first, which forces players on first and second to run to the next base. So an infielder can easily throw the ball to third and get that runner out, and still have time to throw to either second or first to get a double play. Why wouldn’t you do that? It is an easy two outs.

So the infield fly rule says that if you should be able to easily catch a fair ball in the infield, the base umpire calls it an “infield fly if fair” while it is still in the air, pointing his right arm to the sky. Of course, if it flies “foul” or outside of the foul lines but is still in the park, and a player catches it, it is an out. The infield fly rule really is to the benefit of the offense, because it means just one out is charged to the offensive team instead of the possible two.

The infield fly rule can only be applied when there are runners on first and second bases or the bases loaded, there are less than two outs, and a high fly ball is hit (not a bunt or line drive) that can be caught by an infielder with reasonable effort.

Got it? If there are runners on first and second or all, an infield pop-up with less than two outs is an automatic out.

Cool! See you at Baseball Weekend, girlfriend! Bring that really good seven layer dip recipe you make.