The eight "Chicago Black Sox"

1919 Chicago White Sox team photo

 

The infield fly rule in baseball and softball prevents a player from intentionally dropping or not catching a pop fly in certain situations in order to get two or three outs instead of one. This rule applies only when there is no more than one out, and only with runners on first and second, or all three bases. When a batter hits a pop fly in fair territory on the infield in one of these situations, the home-plate umpire immediately rules it an infield fly, the batter is out, and the runners can go back to their base or try to get to the next one. If this rule did not exist, a fielder could intentionally drop the ball or not catch it, then easily get more than one out by tagging out or forcing out the runners before they could reach the next base

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-infield-fly-rule.htm

The Atlanta Braves played 162 baseball games plus exhibition games between the months of March and October of this year.

The St. Louis Cardinals played 162 baseball games plus exhibition games between the months of March and October of this year.

There are emotional commitments to these teams by fans who watch baseball on television; there are economic investments in these teams by fans who purchase season tickets or cable baseball packages ;

and there are career gamblers rooting for these teams.

It is a long and arduous journey for baseball teams to just get through a season let alone make it into the playoffs.

And due to a statistical anomaly the season for the Braves and the Cardinals came down to one game and one game only.

With the Braves trailing, 6-3, and runners on first and second, Simmons came to the plate with one away. The shortstop popped up a 3-2 pitch from Cardinals reliever Mitchell Boggs to left field. Cardinals shortstop Pete Kozma ranged out into left, arms spread wide, trying to get under the ball. Meanwhile, Matt Holliday charged in toward the ball. With both players in the area, the pop fly dropped between them.

 

What initially looked to be a tremendous break for the Braves, who appeared to have loaded the bases with just one out in the eighth, turned into the first controversy of the 2012 MLB playoffs. The umpire in left field had raised a single finger as the ball dropped, signaling that the infield fly rule was in effect. This ruling meant that Simmons was automatically out.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/05/infield-fly-rule-braves-cardinals-wild-card_n_1944240.html

Now the Braves were behind three runs and it was the eighth inning for chrissakes.

And the shortstop made an error on the play for sure. If he had not called off the left fielder, the fielder would have caught that ball. At least it looked so after viewing the replay about ten times.

But the real news involved in this game had more to do with the home field fans than the players or the umps!

The fans acted like they were members of the Taiwan Legislature!

There was a riot of sorts.

Unlike some riots I have witnessed during European soccer fiascos, our Brave rioters stayed in the stands and threw their bottles and cans and other garbage onto the field; interrupting play for about an hour so clean-up could be had and injuring a player on the field.

I recall a similar reaction at Metropolitan Stadium in the 70's when Dallas pulled out a last minute win against the Vikings.

People were actually prosecuted in that mess following the game.

These Brave fans should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.

I understand the frustration.

A few years ago I am watching my Twins in a playoff game with the Yankees and one of our best batters hit a sharp line drive into the Right field; it hit the ground and I thought: Hey this might go all right. We always have huge problems with the Yankees.

Well it turns out that the right fielder was playing in and grabbed the ball from the ground AND THREW MY MAN OUT AT FIRST BASE!

I was so goddamn mad I changed the channel and refused to watch the rest of that series—which we lost anyway.

And the Brave fans certainly had a right to be pissed when a fly ball way out in left field is missed and the batter is called out due to the INFIELD FLY RULE!

In my reaction to the Twins playoff game, no rule was broken; I was just pissed when a run of the mill single was turned into an out by an astute Yankee coach and player.

IT JUST WAS NOT FAIR.

The Brave fans had something to base their emotional reaction on; they had an umpire to blame and a rule that nobody except umpires really understand.

Now like the DH rule; there are 'purists' or baseball philosophers who despise the Infield-fly-rule.

I must point out that if this situation had been reversed and the Braves had been leading in a 6-3 game and the other side had to men on base and....well. There would certainly have been less garbage thrown on the field.

From everything I have read and heard about this Braves/Cardinal fiasco, the umpire was not wrong in his ruling; although there are plenty of pundits who would disagree.

I do know this.

The rule has been in place for decades. It was not like the rule was changed in the 7^th inning or anything like that.

So what is the point of my essay today?

...we just had the 31^st straight month of private sector job growth, bringing the total number of private sector jobs created under the president to more 4.6 million, and the unemployment rate dropped by three-tenths of a point to 7.8 percent! The rate is now below where it was when Obama took over as the George W. Bush cataclysm was gaining steam. Shouldn't we all be overjoyed?

And a separate statistical poll taken by the same governmental unit demonstrated that 837,000 reported that they had found work in September.

There is certainly other information available demonstrating that our economy is on the upswing.

The housing market really is looking a lot better.

Some 86,000 jobs were added to the July/August numbers.

Our reliance on foreign sources of energy is way way down over the last three years.

The stock exchanges are up 100% from the date Obama took office.

Anyway, I am watching MSNBC and switching to CNBC as is my regimen during the morning and the pundits and journalists are screaming bloody bloody murder.

They were so pissed that I could not stop laughing.

Besides my initial reaction which came down to:

WHO REALLY REALLY HATES THIS COUNTRY SO MUCH AS TO LITERALLY THROW GARBAGE DOWN ONTO THE FIELD WHEN AMERICA IS WINNING...

It occurred to me that the repubs just cannot stand the Infield-fly-rule.

And these repubs take it out on the umpires for simply applying the rule!

Oh the governmental department involved is intentionally playing with the numbers.

Oh the Administration is causing the same governmental department to issue false numbers.

And finally...

The process and rules involved in monthly employment reports stink! The same process and rules that the repubs have been using (falsely I might add) in their attack against President Obama for three years.

Jack Welch, Fox News and CNBC should be ashamed of themselves!

http://www.salon.com/writer/alex_seitz_wald/