2 Batting

Fair/Foul: So you've just hit the pitch. Most times it will be pretty obvious whether you've hit a fair ball or a foul ball, but sometimes when your hit is going down the line you can't make an immediate determination. For these close situations, there are 3 cases (these apply equally to both foul lines, so ``the base" can refer to either 1B or 3B as appropriate):

(a)

Ball hits the ground before passing the base untouched by a fielder.

(b)

Ball hits the ground beyond the base untouched by a fielder.

(c)

Ball touched by a fielder or stops on its own before (a) or (b) apply.

in For case (a), the ball is fair if it passes by the base in fair territory, or if it hits the base itself. Note that the entire base is considered fair, so passing over any part of the base means a fair ball. It doesn't matter what the ball did before getting to the base, or what it does after passing it.

For case (b), the ball is fair if it lands in fair territory behind the base. It doesn't matter where it was anywhere in its flight. Note that the spin of a batted ball that is going down the line will usually always make the ball tend to curve towards foul territory, so it is not unusual for a ball that starts fair down the line to land foul (the wind can also be a factor for high fly balls).

The figure below shows some example hits. The lines show the path of the balls over the ground, and the circles on the lines show where the balls have hit the ground. Fair balls have been drawn by solid green lines, and foul balls by dashed red lines.

For case (c), if the ball stops before reaching the base without being touched, it is fair or foul according to where it stopped. If a fielder touches the ball before it passes the base, or before it lands after passing the base, it is fair or foul according to where it was touched. Thus, in the infield, touching a ball about to go foul will make it fair (hence the phrase ``let it go foul"). Similarly, you can't make a fair ball foul by slapping in into foul territory before it lands.

There are a couple ``2$^{\rm nd}$-order" ways for a hit to be foul:

• striking home plate before anything else,
• touching the batter while she's still in the batter's box, or
• touching a base-runner who is standing in foul territory.

in Safe or Out? So now you've hit a fair ball. As the batter, you must run to first base (running beyond 1B is the topic for §3). Unfortunately, you may be out. (If you've hit a foul ball, there's no need to run to 1B; but because in close cases you can't tell immediately whether your hit will be fair or foul, you may want to run anyway. If it turns out to be foul, you just have to come back and bat some more.) Since we don't worry about balls and strikes, there are only 3 principal ways in which you as the batter can be out:

(a)

A fielder catches your hit (either fair or foul) before it hits the ground. In this case, it doesn't matter whether you've already reached 1B or not. A foul ball that goes directly back to the catcher and is caught is not an out (just a foul-tip) if the highest point of its arc is not higher than your head (or thereabouts).

(b)

A fielder holding the ball touches 1B with any part of his body, with the ball (that he his holding), or with his glove (that has the ball in it) before you do. Usually this occurs because your ground ball was fielded by an infielder and thrown to the first-baseman who was standing with her foot on the base.

(c)

A fielder touches (tags) you with the ball (that he is holding) or with his glove (that must have the ball in it) before you reach the base.

in There is also a $2^{\rm nd}$-order way of being out via the infield-fly rule, which we can discuss should the situation ever arise (it essentially prevents the fielding team from getting a cheap double-play on a pop-up, which will be more apparent after §3).

If you reach 1B without any of (a)-(c) happening, you are safe there, and become a base-runner. Normally, anytime you're not touching a base you can be tagged out, but because you'll be running really fast to get to 1B, it's okay to over-run it, as long as you turn off towards foul territory after the bag (jargon for ``base").