# Baseball rule changes

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-rule-changes/642287>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [November 27, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-rule-changes/642287 "2012-11-27T17:52:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-rule-changes/642287/41 "2012-11-29T15:59:06Z")

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> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#):
>
> # \<snip\>
> 
> As for that infield fly rule…
> 
> I bolded the important part there. A shortstop sprinting to the warning track to run down a fly ball is not exhibiting ordinary effort.

It still remains a judgment call. As in my example above, if a ball is popped up high enough for an infielder to drift back to the warning track to make it without having to sprint or dive, it could still _hypothetically_ be ruled an infield fly. That’s somewhere between improbably and impossible, but it illustrates my point that the rule, while it is designed to prevent force out double plays, remains open-ended and up for whatever the umpires decide is acceptable at that exact moment. It’s not a perfect rule by a long stretch, but I personally don’t see a way to improve it while reflecting something as nebulous as “ordinary effort.” Further, the “controversial” application of the rule comes up so infrequently as to not be worth debating over, IMHO.

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