Each of this week’s Brain Games will involve the sport of Major League Baseball. We’ll do our best to keep it on the “casual fan” level so that most of you can participate; good luck!
Although I was perhaps the worst Little League second baseman to ever take the field, I feel that I know the rules of the sport better than most. I was surprised to learn the following, however. Do you know?
According to the Official Rules of Major League Baseball,
what occurs when a fielder attempts to catch a batted ball
with his hat or mask (or by tossing his glove at the ball)?
Here is the ANSWER.
Comments (9)
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Wow I didn’t know that. There’s a lot of interesting rules for situations that rarely or never seem to happen. I wonder how often this situation has occurred.
I’d absolutely love it if you could do an article about the rare occurrences when obscure baseball rules (and other sports too?)have had to be put in effect.
posted by Michigan mom on 4-23-2009 at 8:11 am
If you can throw your glove at a ball and catch it in midair, your team should automatically win the game. The odds of that are one in a bilion.
posted by Jon on 4-23-2009 at 8:25 am
Very interesting rule. Has this ever happened in a real game situation?
I agree with Michigan mom about an article where obscure rules have come into play or even an article where something occurred and a rule was created.
posted by Andrea on 4-23-2009 at 8:32 am
I knew about the throwing the glove we use to talk about it but I’ve never seen it applied in little league game, which is the only place I’ve seen a kid throw his glove at a ball. While batting with a man on 2nd and 3rd I pointed out to the ump that the catcher had committed a balk and the runners advanced scoring a run. Strange thing is I had just read the rule not 10 minutes prior while sitting on the bench and could not believe it happened the next time I got to bat.
posted by GBurns on 4-23-2009 at 8:45 am
If I was an outfielder, and the ball is most certainly over your head for a homerun I would throw my Glove everytime at it, to at least stop it from going over the fence….regardless it would save 1 run if the home run turns into a triple……
posted by Dre on 4-23-2009 at 8:49 am
This is my favorite obscure baseball rule.
We were actually talking about this at lunch earlier in the week as I caught a foul at a minor league game this past weekend (using my hands) and it made me think of the rule.
posted by Ryan H on 4-23-2009 at 9:38 am
Also Dre, another part of the rule is if you stop a ball that is going to be a HR, then it automatically counts as a HR.
posted by Ryan H on 4-23-2009 at 9:41 am
I did know the rule, but I must confess, I am an umpire. But there are many obscure rules in the MLB rulebook. I implore someone to look up the ‘scratch rule’ and tell me you’ve ever heard of that before.
posted by Frank on 4-23-2009 at 11:45 am
You can, however, kick the ball on defense. Remember the Paul O’Neil play? Classic.
posted by SteveO on 4-23-2009 at 6:56 pm