Rare triple play

ever hear of it?

[pmac]

A beer jockey at a local I frequent has bet a pitcher of beer to any patron that can solve this bit of trivia. I have "struck out" while searching for the answer.

A runner on first and a runner on second with nobody out. The batter makes contact. All three players are called out, yet no defensive player touches the ball. Doesn't see possible to me.

Help me solve it and I will lift a jar in your honour. :-)

[mivox]

The batter makes contact with what? Maybe his fist made contact with the umpires face.... hehehe. Can they call the other guys out for that?

[jimbeetle]

Infield fly rule, the batter is out?

Runner on second gets called out for interference when ball plunks him on the head, rendering him unconscious?

Runner on first keeps going, steps on his unlucky teammate and is called out for passing the runner in front of him?

(But if runner on second was already called out then there is no runner in front of the runner on first.)

Who the heck knows?

Jim

[pmac]

Hehehe....I gotta assume its contact with the ball. I would think that if you start beating on an umpire with a PDA laden purse though, you should expect to be called out. :)

[mcguffin]

[Takes a guess]

One runner, let's say the one on second is hit by the batted ball before it passes a fielder. Runner is out.

The runner on first is proceeding around second when he places himself between the shortstop and the now grounded ball. Intentional interference, the runner is out.

Since no defensive player has yet touched the ball, the batter does one of two things 1) makes a wide turn at first and runs outside the basepath; 2) miscounts outs and heads to the dugout, thinking the previous out was the third out. Either way, batter is out.

A triple play without any fielder touching the ball.

I've not umpired, but I'm thinking that this is either correct or well on the right track. :)

[mlb.com...]

mcguffin

[Grumpus]

It's been my experience that anytime you've got a bar bet going that there's definitely a trick to the question. I'd tend to stay on the "made contact with what" theory. Make contact with the pitcher and the pitcher throws a punch, the guys on base join the fray and all are "out" of the game? I dunno. It's going to be a trick question just based upon the fact that the guy made an open offer for a pitcher in a bar.

G.

[pmac]

Yeah, I hear ya, but this is a regular trivia thing that goes on every week. Every Friday they give away a pitcher to the winner(s).

mcguffin, cheers, It makes sense. I'll let you know how I make out.

[DrCool]

Rules 7.08 and 7.09 would probably have to apply in this situation. There are a number of different scenarios involving interference, passing runners on base, running out of the baseline, and abandoning the play that could apply in this situation.

[msr986]

I think this is the key:

> yet no defensive player touches the ball

So it must mean that an offensive player DOES touch the ball.

[Workerbee]

From a friend who has been an umpire and has an incredible knowledge of baseball:

"Batter hits an infield fly. He's out once the ball starts downward and is determined to be catchable with ordinary effort by an infielder. The runner from first passes the runner on second and is called out for passing a preceding runner. The runner from second is hit by the infield fly and is declared out for being hit by a batted ball."

[jimbeetle]

Hey, sounds good. I was close, just got it a bit backwards.

Too bad close only counts in...

[Workerbee]

Yeah, it looks like you pretty much had it, Jimbeetle - the info I got from my friend just confirmed it. And as far as I'm concerned, close should count in most things. Except surgery. : )

[TheDave]

The batsman makes contact with the ball which hits the wicket at the other en.. oh wait different game ;P

[pmac]

<<<<<<Burp>>>>>
I win. Cheers boys.