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Moderators, feel free to move this onto a more appropriate forum. I cannot find anything regarding baseball rules and rulings...
Not long ago, I posted a tidbit on the Random Trivia thread regarding a very bizarre double play. Having pondered the play itself, it brought about a question in my mind regarding the rulebook. First, I will paste the posting below and then ask my question:
One of the most bizarre double plays in baseball history occurred in 1889 in a game between the NL Chicago White Stockings and the visiting Philadelphia Quakers. In the top of the seventh inning, Philadelphia was threatening to score with Bill Hallman on third base and Jack Clements on second with nobody out. The batter, Ben Sanders, smacked a hard line drive that headed directly at Hallman, who was leading off of third base. Hallman froze and the ball struck him on the shoulder. Instead of falling to the ground, however, the ball caromed toward second base where it hit the oncoming Clements. The umpire ruled both men out for being hit by a batted ball. The Quakers argued that only Hallman was out, since the ball was dead once it struck him, but the umpire ruled that since no defensive player had touched the ball, it was still in play, therefore Clements was out, too. Ben Sanders had lined into a double play on which no fielder had so much as touched the ball.
Here's my question: Given the same exact scenario, what would have been the ruling on the field had an infielder caught the ball on the fly AFTER it had struck both runners? Would that be scored as an unassisted triple play, with the two runners being called out because they were struck by a batted ball and the batter being out because the ball was caught before it hit the ground? That would be truly bizarre!
Not long ago, I posted a tidbit on the Random Trivia thread regarding a very bizarre double play. Having pondered the play itself, it brought about a question in my mind regarding the rulebook. First, I will paste the posting below and then ask my question:
One of the most bizarre double plays in baseball history occurred in 1889 in a game between the NL Chicago White Stockings and the visiting Philadelphia Quakers. In the top of the seventh inning, Philadelphia was threatening to score with Bill Hallman on third base and Jack Clements on second with nobody out. The batter, Ben Sanders, smacked a hard line drive that headed directly at Hallman, who was leading off of third base. Hallman froze and the ball struck him on the shoulder. Instead of falling to the ground, however, the ball caromed toward second base where it hit the oncoming Clements. The umpire ruled both men out for being hit by a batted ball. The Quakers argued that only Hallman was out, since the ball was dead once it struck him, but the umpire ruled that since no defensive player had touched the ball, it was still in play, therefore Clements was out, too. Ben Sanders had lined into a double play on which no fielder had so much as touched the ball.
Here's my question: Given the same exact scenario, what would have been the ruling on the field had an infielder caught the ball on the fly AFTER it had struck both runners? Would that be scored as an unassisted triple play, with the two runners being called out because they were struck by a batted ball and the batter being out because the ball was caught before it hit the ground? That would be truly bizarre!
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