Pop fly - ball caught glove falls off and ball remains in gl

[frogracer]

Yesterday during a LL game: Runner on third, hitter hit a pop fly, runner on third ran home, an outfielder caught the ball, his glove fell off, ball remained in the glove as it came to rest on the ground. Player reached into his glove picked out the ball and threw to third for what was ruled a double play.

Was this play ruled correctly?

[Bryan D Shepherd]

No.

According to Rule 2.9.5c (NFHS) the definition of a catch says that "A catch will not be credited if the fielder uses any equipment or part of his/her uniform that is displaced from its proper position." It does not say anything about intentionally doing such, so the proper call should've been "No catch" and the ball would be live, allowing the runners to advance with liability to be put out.

[frogracer]

Thanks for the insight and noted correction.

[Bryan D Shepherd]

No problem, anything I can do to help!

-Ump Bryan

[IntentionalWalk]

Not to start an argument here ... but I think this should have been a catch.

The equipment was not displaced when the ball was caught, only afterwards. It's a legal catch. The displacement rule exists to (for example) prevent fielders throwing their gloves at balls out of reach. In fact, purposely displacing your equipment and striking a live ball results in three bases awarded.

[jcbeckman]

"The equipment was not displaced when the ball was caught, only afterwards. "

That's not entirely clear based on the original post. I think it's something you'd have to see to really rule on it.