Infield Fly Rule - Potential Unassisted, Untouched, Triple Play

Potential Unassisted, Untouched, Triple Play

Among the many unlikely and bizarre scenarios that involve the Infield Fly Rule, in the April 6, 2009 issue of Newsweek, George Will has postulated an "Unassisted, Untouched" Triple Play. In this scenario, there are runners on first and second and no outs. The Infield Fly Rule is invoked so the batter is out. The runner on first base advances to second and continues, passing the runner on second, making the runner from first base automatically out. Finally, the pop-up drops and hits the runner who was on second base after he leaves the base (if he is standing on the base during an infield fly and the ball hits him, he is not out, but the ball becomes dead and the play is over), making this the third out. All of this happens without a single defensive player touching the ball.

The bizarre twist to this is how it would be scored. In the case of an infield fly rule, the official scorer decides which fielder was most likely to have caught the ball, and assigns the first out to that player. The out for passing a runner is assigned to the closest fielder, as is the third out for being hit by the ball. It is quite possible in such a scenario that the same fielder would be given credit for all three outs, most likely the shortstop or second baseman.

An unassisted triple play involving the infield fly rule occurred during an NCAA game between the BYU Cougars and the SDSU Aztecs in May 2011. Runners on first and second advanced without noting the infield fly call and were tagged out by BYU shortstop Andrew Law.