Jeffrey Maier

[Cheese Oriole]

Here's the best response from Buck: "The ball would have carried out of the ballpark if nobody's standing there. I don't know if it was somebody in midnight blue or black and orange there. I've got an educated guess, so our goal was to play well enough so they can't get a ticket."

[badcobully]

If there was a chance of the homerun being overturned I would absolutely request a review. I'm not sure what the exact ruling is on fan interference, but if there is a 50/50 chance of taking 2 runs off the board in a 4-0 or 4-2 game I would take that risk everyday. I know making Chen stand on the mound for 2-7 minutes after throwing 90+ pitches is not ideal, but to me it's worth the risk. It sounds like in this instance there wasn't a great chance of overturning the call so I suppose it wasn't a big deal.

[weams]

They would not have called it an out. The best result would have been a double. One run in. Runner on second. With the way it worked out I guess Buck had a point.

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[El Gordo]

I don't see what difference it makes whether the ball would have gone out or not. It looked to me that it couild well have hit on top of the wall and bounced either way. That's beside the point. The player had a reasonable expectation to make a play, and the fan reached onto to field and interferred with him. End of story. It should be ruled an out.

[SammyBirdland]

They would not have called it an out. The best result would have been a double. One run in. Runner on second. With the way it worked out I guess Buck had a point.

Here's the official rule:

3.16

When there is spectator interference with any thrown or batted ball, the ball shall be dead at the moment of interference and the umpire shall impose such penalties as in his opinion will nullify the act of interference.

APPROVED RULING: If spectator interference clearly prevents a fielder from catching a fly ball, the umpire shall declare the batter out.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/game_preliminaries_3.jsp

[primetime]

Something decent I found about instant replay was on Bleacher Report

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/982463-mlb-wants-to-expand-instant-replay-a-comprehensive-look-at-the-proposed-deal

Current instant replay guidelines already allow for video review of all potential home run calls. Fan interference boundary calls are accordingly reviewable as long as the possibility of a home run exists.

My question is had fan interference been called, would it have been ruled an out of a ground rule double?

Edit.....Sammy answered my question.

[Dipper9]

Here's the official rule:

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/game_preliminaries_3.jsp

Well, in that case, the batter would have been out, because Tina's gif CLEARLY shows the fan preventing Avery from catching that ball.

[Dipper9]

This is perfect.Look at the woman directly behind Avery.She would have the best play on the ball if it was in the stands.She looks to e a foot behind Avery's glove.

Tina needs to send this to the Orioles. This is the perfect shot that they could forward to the League. Can teams do that, like they do in football?

[bobmc]

All cut from the same cloth, I'm afraid.

I can only assume that this was the reaction of every OH member watching the game and posting at the same time when this happened:

I wuz born in (Cr)Brooklyn of all places and this first .gif is why I had to get away those 46 years ago....

But re-looking at the tina .gif, I'm not convinced that X would have gotten high enough to spear it (perhaps he could but not sure) and agree with tennOsfan that it is too tough to call for the ump in that situation.

[hoosiers]

The ball was going to clear the fence or was (I thought) already over the fence. No umpire is going to reverse a HR under those circumstances.

HRs are reversed when fans reach far over/under the fence into the field of play.

Looked like a HR to me with very, very little chance of being reversed.

[El Gordo]

The ball was going to clear the fence or was (I thought) already over the fence. No umpire is going to reverse a HR under those circumstances.

HRs are reversed when fans reach far over/under the fence into the field of play.

Looked like a HR to me with very, very little chance of being reversed.

The ball bounced off the fans glove into the stands. I don't see how you can be absolutely certain about where it will end up. And to my mind it is irrelevant. The fan absolutely interferred.

[bobmc]

Well, in that case, the batter would have been out, because Tina's gif CLEARLY shows the fan preventing Avery from catching that ball.

I still don't agree that it is definite that X would have gotten high enough - the glove hits the ball above X's and then hits X's glove. He may have but maybe not imo. It's not set in stone for me anyway.

[SammyBirdland]

I still don't agree that it is definite that X would have gotten high enough - the glove hits the ball above X's and then hits X's glove. He may have but maybe not imo. It's not set in stone for me anyway.

My opinion is that it was close enough that it should have been looked at, and it wasn't. Buck had to at least ask. He failed. Hopefully our whining will make him react differently if this happens again in the future.

[El Gordo]

I still don't agree that it is definite that X would have gotten high enough - the glove hits the ball above X's and then hits X's glove. He may have but maybe not imo. It's not set in stone for me anyway.

The point is that the fan interferred. Not that it is absolute that X would make the catch. He certainly had a shot and the interferrence was in the field of play.

[bobmc]

The point is that the fan interferred. Not that it is absolute that X would make the catch. He certainly had a shot and the interferrence was in the field of play.

But the ump has the option to rule out or not, interference or not.

3.16

When there is spectator interference with any thrown or batted ball, the ball shall be dead at the moment of interference and the umpire shall impose such penalties as in his opinion will nullify the act of interference.

APPROVED RULING: If spectator interference clearly prevents a fielder from catching a fly ball, the umpire shall declare the batter out.