I didn’t want this to sink into the abyss with my Jose Canseco thread in the Pit, but hajario posted this in it.
Isn’t that a ground rule double if a player touches it before it goes over the fence?
If that were the case, any ball that an outfielder managed to lay even a finger on would be reduced to a double. And that’s clearly not the case.
If it touches a Snoooooopy statue and bounces over the fence - it’s a ground rule double.
If a player tries to catch the ball (or even if said player tries to avoid the ball) - and it hits said player - it’s a home run.
It is if the ball has bounced.
Indeed. Bouncing Balls are sometimes Home Runs.
If the ball skips over the wall - it’s the umpire’s call. Otherwise, even if the ball is caught in some gnarly ivy in Wrigley Field - the ball is in play and runners may advance at their own risk.
In theory, if an extremely well hit line drive glances off the shortstop’s glove and goes over the fence in fair territory, home run. If it goes over in foul territory, double. Also, any ball the strikes the pitcher’s rubber (sounds painful, doesn’t it?) and goes over the fence in foul territory is a double.
Of course, it will depend on the park. Different parks have different rules and different ways of handling situations that may or may not be specific to that park. After all, basically all but Wrigley Field don’t need rules on what happens when a ball gets stuck in ivy on the fence.
asterion is partially right. Each park lists its own ground rules on its web site (and I think I’ve heard them read at games, too). However, the major issues concerning what’s a double and what’s a home run are covered in the Official Rules, section 6.09.
While there are specific ground rules for individual parks (Wrigley’s includes what happens if a ball goes down a drainage grate…no foolin’) players are not considered ‘part of the field’ per MLB rules, I believe. So if a ball caroms off a player and then goes over the wall without touching anything else that is considered ‘part of the field’ it’s a home run.
IIRC, however, umpires are considered ‘part of the field’. If a ball hits an umpire and goes over the outfield wall it would be a GRD.
You’re right. I oversimplified. What I meant was that, while some rules come down from on high and apply everywhere, parks have their own rules as well to deal with situations caused by the design. After all, unless you’re playing in a dome, you probably don’t have to worry about what happens when the ball hits the ceiling or a loudspeaker. (I know this happened, but I don’t remember what happened and whether the rule was a park rule or an MLB rule.)
Correct me if I’m wrong, but the player has to maintain control of the ball too–so if the continuation of his stride causes him to collide with the wall and drop the ball, he hasn’t really caught it. If he drops it over the wall–even if he controlled it–it’d be a homerun.
Dome hits are covered by ground rules, I know this because at Tropicana field, home of the technically-professional-team Devil Rays, if a ball hits the front of a walkway that crosses the roof it’s a double, anything beyond that is a homerun. And since this thread started with a mention of Canseco, I’ll mention that the reason I know this rule is because I saw him get a homerun in just this way during his stint with the Devil Rays.
They have professional baseball in Tampa?
Really pedantic baseball fans will tell you that balls that bounce over the fence are not ground rule doubles, but rather “automatic doubles”.
A ground rule double would be a double that happens because of an event that occurs as part of some unusual field condition.
And despite what anyone tells you, no MLB in use today has any provision for a “Ground rule triple”. That’s not to say a team couldn’t try to establish one, but there are none now.