Question for all the baseball geeks out there.

[lionkingcmsl]

Suppose that there was an extremely fast player; so fast that his nickname is "Cheetah"; and he is playing at a stadium that has a long center field, better than 425ft.

Here is the scenario:
He hits a very high towering pop-up down center. As soon as he makes contact he is off and running. Through his natural speed, the height of the pop-up and unique weather conditions he actually makes it to first base before the center-fielder catches the ball. I'm not talking hundredths of a second, but close to tenths of a second; so there is no doubt that he crossed first base first.

Now, the question:
Is he safe, as he reached base before the ball was caught: or is he out, because the ball was caught.

My feeling is that he should be ruled "safe" as he did reach the base while the ball was still in play.

Comments

[herveus.livejournal.com]

He's out. Batters who hit tall fly balls frequently are halfway to second base before the ball is caught. Extremely fast would have him halfway to third base before it's caught, but he'd still be out.

If the batter hits a ball in the air and it is caught by a defensive player before it hits the ground, the batter is out.

Rules of MLB

6.05
A batter is out when—
(a) His fair or foul fly ball (other than a foul tip) is legally caught by a fielder;

[lowen-kind.livejournal.com]

Ok.

I didn't realize that my scenario was a somewhat frequent occurrence. :=/