Certainly would. The infield fly rule is vocally enforced before the ball is touched by a fielder.
The umpire will yell something like “Infield fly! Batter’s out if the ball is fair!” well before the ball is caught/touched/dropped by the infielder.
Saw one play where the batter hit a line drive that grazed the pitcher’s stomach and slipped into his uniform between 2 button. The hitter was awarded a hit even though, technically, the pitcher could have retrieved the ball from his uniform without dropping it on the ground.
Baseball has been around long enough to have a highly specific rule for just about any scenario we can come up with.
Case in point, the Cardinals have an ambidextrous pitcher in their organization. One might wonder, what if the pitcher wants to change hands. No problem, there’s a highly specific rule to cover it.
Again, from the MLB rulebook:
A catch is the act of a fielder in getting secure possession in his hand or glove of a ball in flight and firmly holding it; providing he does not use his cap, protector, pocket or any other part of his uniform in getting possession.
I can launch another player into the air to make a catch, but I can’t dig the ball out of my uniform with my hand and demonstrate that it didn’t hit the ground? Seems bizarrely inconsistent to me.
Well, you don’t want a situation where players are trying to use really baggy uniforms to catch the ball. Also the rules around a catch are among the oldest ones in the rule book, and predated the massive gloves players have today.
One of the most basic rules in baseball is that catching a ball with your hands while the ball is in flight is how a batter is put out. That’s why a 3rd strike has to be caught for it to be an out - it’s the catching of the ball that puts the batter out, not the swing or the pitch itself.
Conversely, throwing a player is not something that would ever happen in baseball. It’s just not even possible for me to imagine a hit ball that would be in the air long enough for two players to get under it and for it to be advantageous for a teammate to throw a player into the air to catch it. Even if it were safe to do so.
That’s not all that highly-specific. Ambidexterity has long been valued in baseball, so it’s inevitable that you’d end up at some point with an ambidextrous batter facing an ambidextrous pitcher, and then you need some rule to prevent them both trying to switch to a more favorable side indefinitely.
Throwing your glove, even if legal, would still be much rarer than that.
(and yes, it’s technically legal right now, just with a very high cost, so there could still theoretically be a situation where it’s the best move)
As mentioned in the video I posted above, theoritically it would be the benefit of the fielding team to throw a glove at a HR ball, making the batter stop at 3rd base instead of scoring. But the umps would award the batter a HR if that ever happened.
I remember this very well because that was Logan Gilbert of the Mariners. AFAIK, that was the first time in recorded baseball history of that happening, and it was only a month ago.
Mariners recently got their revenge by sweeping the As, though.
Does that mean that if someone were to bobble a ball in their hand, then drop it and catch it between their knees, it would not count as a catch?
I believe that as long as they then grabbed the ball with their hand (or glove) before it hit the ground that would be a catch. Because they didn’t use “his cap, protector, pocket or any other part of his uniform”.
It’s really just to address the possibility of putting some giant net-like contraption or pocket on your uniform and trying to use that to catch the ball. Using your body to keep the ball aloft and then catching it with your glove is fine.
The Gilbert one was just a very, very unusual circumstance where the uniform happened to trap the ball.
There was one other somewhat similar play where a pitched ball got stuck to Yadi Molina’s chest protector. That one was a bounced strike three and the batter got to first base because Yadi couldn’t find the ball in time.
This isn’t the NFL in another sense, no such thing as two feet down and a “baseball” move and the catch is a fait accompli. I saw Davey Martinez catch a ball but get knocked out by Wrigley’s ivy-covered wall, stagger then fall mostly unconscious, and the ball slowly rolled out of his glove. Runner kept running and IIRC got an inside-the-parker.
I don’t know the answer to that question. IMO, if he then grabbed (and controlled) the ball from between his knees with either his mitt or his bare hand, it would be a catch. But strictly my opinion. Google is of no help.
And there was the game where Jay Buhner caught a baseball and fell over the wall, but kept it in his glove, and it was counted as a catch. Otherwise, it would have been a home run.
I know that “protector” in this case was undoubtedly meant to describe the catcher’s protective gear. But, even so, my brain went, “he caught the ball with his cup?”
Ow. One ball too many, and the first two clearly wouldn’t appreciate the company.
In rethinking this question, if a player were to catch the ball between his knees (and then grab it with his hand), he would NOT be using “his cap, protector, pocket or any other part of his uniform in getting possession.” He would be using his knees, not his uniform. I think it’s a legal catch, and therefore an out.
But Youtube comes to the rescue.
Great find, and it validates my opinion!
Reminds me of an old joke… What do you do with an enraged elephant with three balls?
(Just walk him; he’ll probably be easy to tag out later.)