The Braves, the Cardinals and an Infamous Infield Fly: An Oral History

Not that it matters at this point, but this article should state the definition of the infield fly rule so that an objective understanding of the umpires decision can be made by the reader.

Playing a game under protest is an empty exercise. If baseball officials viewing that rediculous call approved it, that demonstrates they'd never overturn any bad call.

It was easily top ten worst calls in sports history

This is bizarre that MLB would assign Holcombe to this game. No matter the outcome, bias can be claimed by either team. He and his crew should be in LA.

Ah, the high drama of millionaires playing with their balls and the legions of fans that are actually emotionally caught up into it. Remarkable.

MLB ia not very good at making rules. In the case of the infield fly rule, the infield fly should have to be caught. If not, the batter takes first base and the other runners advance one base. How hard is that. With that rule there would not have been the injustice in the Atlanta vs St. Louis game.

That pop-up was eminently catchable by the infielder. He was tracking it, moving under it, CALLING IT!, and then he bailed when he seemed to hear the outfielder calling him off. At that point, the defense letting the ball drop to the ground could be seen as a deliberate attempt to turn a pop-up into a double play. And eliminating such sneaky play by the defense is exactly why the infield fly rule was instituted in the first place. I'm not saying the defense was acting sneaky, just that all the requirements for the infield fly rule call were satisfied. The call was correct. Batter out. Runners can try to advance at their own risk. Result was is it should be: Two outs, runners safe at 2nd and 3rd.

The use of umpires in the outfield for the playoffs leads to weird calls like this one. The umpires call zero games from that position the regular season. Of course they’re going to mess up. With replay now available, MLB should stick with four umpires in the playoffs. And MLB can make more challenges available in the playoffs just to make sure they get things right.

Thank you. I had forgotten this episode but I now remember watching it live. I am a baseball fan but not so nutty that I know all rules. I wish you had given us a one para on infield rule. These two wild card games continue this season trend of homers. Of all runs scored over two games - I think close to 20 - all but 3 came from home runs. Simply incredible.

Good grief. No mention whatsoever of the fact that it was WINDY and RAINING and there was NO CERTAINTY WHATSOEVER that that ball was going to be CATCHABLE? Which it obviously WASN'T, since the fielders DIDN'T catch it? To call the infield fly rule was ludicrously wrong in this situation and the polite, well-mannered Atlanta fans did exactly the right thing to protest with every bit of overpriced concessions they could manage to hurl onto the field.

Great article. As a New Yorker, I really have no "horse in the race." ... I hate the "purists" who "like the human element," equating a bad call with a bad bounce. They even are steadfast when a bad call (arguably) lets/makes the better team lose, so I'd like to think that just as the NFL has figured out that sometimes the on-the-field refs miss something ... and technology enables "cooler heads" [and not as much influenced - as almost always is the case - by "How's it gonna look if I ??" when there IS NO outside review] to weigh in - and pretty expeditiously. Hate to say it, but in crazy 2019, there are far greater dangers than debris on the field. Growing up, I remember hearing things like "It's a game of inches." As an adult with some sense of numbers, I know that 1 50th of a second - "was he out or safe?" is akin to those "did it get the line?" questions in tennis. This is a situation where not taking advantage of tried-and-true technology makes no sense at all. Last, there's all that gambling money. I'm among the many who simply can't help wonder whether the worst call I can remember seeing - last year's NFL playoffs, the "non-interference call - wasn't "bought and paid for!" As long as sports capture way more eyeballs than any presidential debate, let's minimize even the chance of corruption!

As a follow up to my previous comment, "An INFIELD FLY is a fair fly ball (not including a line drive nor an attempted bunt) which can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort, when first and second, or first, second and third bases are occupied, before two are out. The pitcher, catcher and any outfielder who stations himself in the infield on the play shall be considered infielders for the purpose of this rule." Since the umpire judged the ball could have been caught by the infielder with "ordinary effort" he made the correct call.