Baseball Rules Corner - Brief Article

Baseball Digest, April, 2001 by Rich Marazzi

My favorite baseball disappearing act involved a player named Johnny Bates who played for Mobile in 1917. Bates hit a fly ball that sailed about 200 feet in the air over second base. To the amazement of everyone in the park, the ball got stuck in the fuselage of a passing plane. The umpire ruled the stowaway clout a home run using the following logic: "When last seen, the ball was traveling out of the park in fair territory."

DID YOU KNOW ... that if a batted ball gets lost or caught in the vines on the outfield walls in Wrigley Field the batter gets credit for a double? If a batted ball hits the vines and comes out, the ball is in play.