baseball rules infield fly

[davidemerling]

It is perfectly legal for a fielder to deliberately drop a declared Infield Fly - even if the intent is clearly to deceive the runners. The "deliberately dropped ball" rule (a DIFFERENT rule) cannot be invoked on a ball that is declared as an Infield Fly. The runner's have had fair warning by the umpire's call and have no excuse when deceived when the ball is dropped (intentionally or unintentionally).

Also, an Infield Fly is never called on linedrives or bunts.

[firstpickjim]

To prevent the defense from trapping runners into an easy double, or triple play. Runners may not advance until a fly ball is caught, but with runners on first, or first and second, or bases loaded, they are forced to run on a ball that hits the ground. On a fly in the infield, a fielder could deliberately drop the ball and easily get 2 outs. The rule makes the batter out, whether the ball is caught or not, so the runners are not forced to run.

[sybietube]

nice for european's to learn this sport :)