re infield fly rule jrogoff scott skidmore edu jay rogoff writes one last infield fly question that has always puzzled me and hasn t yet been addressed i believe the rule also does not deal with this situation however if the infield fly is not caught at what point can a runner legally leave his base w o fear of being doubled off for advancing too early the runner can leave his base at any time if the ball is caught he s got to tag up if it isn t caught he doesn t have to tag up at all so if he s feeling lucky your runner at second can sprint for glory as soon as the ball is popped up if it isn t caught he s probably scored a run if it is he s probably headed for aaa the only effect the infield fly has is to make the batter out thereby removing the force on the runners on base all other rules apply as if you were standing second with first open and the ball is popped up tim shippert shippert cco caltech edu if we are going to stick to this damned quantum jumping then i regret that i ever had anything to do with quantum theory e schrodinger
