In baseball, a sacrifice fly is a batted ball that satisfies four criteria:
- There are fewer than two outs when the ball is hit.
- The ball is hit to the outfield (fair or foul), or to infield foul territory.
- The batter is put out because an outfielder (or an infielder running in the outfield, or foul territory) catches the ball on the fly (alternatively if the batter would have been out if not for an error or if the outfielder drops the ball and another runner is put out).
- A runner who is already on base scores on the play.
It is called a "sacrifice" fly because the batter presumably intends to cause a teammate to score a run, while sacrificing his own ability to do so.
Famous quotes containing the words sacrifice and/or fly:
“The cannon thunders ... limbs fly in all directions ... one can hear the groans of victims and the howling of those performing the sacrifice ... its Humanity in search of happiness.”
—Charles Baudelaire (18211867)
“This, however, is my teaching: whoever would one day learn to fly must first learn to stand and to walk and to run and to leap and to climb and to dance:Myou cannot fly into flying!”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (18441900)