MaverickAH
Well-Known Member
i understand Mav. All i am saying this flaw of judgement calls can be significantly minimized if you go by the hard line. what we call a fair/foul line here, we are referring to this imaginary line in the air. You relying on human eye from 10 -15 ft away to possibly detect foul ball or not if the ball is less than a few inch away from this imaginary foul line? Also why would you kill the play that way by calling it a foul ball when it has a chance to yield a different outcome when the ball is still live in the air and untouched?
You lost me in your last sentence. Who's killing a play when the ball is still live in the air & untouched? At that point it's neither fair nor foul. The ball has to be touched by either a fielder, the ground, leave the field of play, settle fair/foul or something unless it's completely obvious.
Very often I have to officiate single ump games on natural fields. No lines. No fences. No foul poles. No clear delineation of fair/foul or playable/dead ball territory. All I have is my judgement & maybe some cones in the outfield to assist me. You line yourself up & make your call. Of course if it's close, the offense is never happy when you call it foul & the defense is never happy when you call it fair......