the infield fly rule came into effect in 1901.
the infield fly rule came into effect in 1901.
when does the infield fly rule come into effect?
1901
the national league formed in 1876. its rules changed almost yearly for the next quarter century. in 1880, a batter was out if the catcher caught the third strike; otherwise, the batter got four strikes. before 1883, pitchers were required to deliver pitches with their hand below their hips; in that year, the rule was changed to allow shoulder-high deliveries. until 1887, batters could call for either a high or low pitch, and the strike zone was either above or below the waist. in 1885, the rules changed, until 1893, to allow bats to be flat on one side; beginning in 1893, they had to be round. in 1887, the rules changed so that batters could no longer call for a pitch; and the strike zone was defined as from the shoulders to the knees. during this period, the pitcher's mound was much closer to home plate, foul balls were not counted as strikes, batters got four strikes, and the number of "called balls" resulting in a walk—which initially included strikes and foul balls- went from 9 to 8 to 7 to 6 to 5 and, in 1889, to 4. in that same year, the number of strikes went from 4 to 3. in 1887, a rule was adopted for that year only counting walks as hits, which played havoc with statistics. in 1892, the 154 game schedule was adopted. in 1893, the pitcher's mound was moved from 50 to 60.5 feet from home plate. in 1894, foul bunts were made strikes, and the infield fly rule was adopted with one out. in 1895, foul tips were made strikes, but not foul balls. in 1898, the first modern balk rule was adopted, as well as the modern rule for recognizing stolen bases. in 1901, the infield fly rule was extended to apply when there were no outs.
baseball rules
any fair fly ball that could be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort is covered by the rule, whether or not it is in the infield, and whether or not an infielder catches it, or even attempts to catch it. for example, if an infielder retreats to the outfield in an effort to catch a fly ball, the infield fly rule may be invoked because the ball could have been caught by the infielder. similarly, infield fly may also be called if an "outfielder" runs into the infield to catch a fly ball, if it could have been caught by an infielder with ordinary effort. it may be helpful to think of it as the ""infielder" fly rule". specifically, the rule states an infield fly call should be determined by "whether the ball could ordinarily have been handled by an infielder, not by some arbitrary limitation such as the grass, or the base lines. the umpire must rule also that a ball is an infield fly, even if handled by an outfielder, if, in the umpire's judgment, the ball could have been as easily handled by an infielder."
infield fly rule