Clipping:Are trees part of the ground?
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| Date | Sunday, September 4, 1859 |
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| Text | [a question from the Cazenovia BBC] A ball was once batted, and it landed in a crotch of the tree. A number of the outside party climbed the tree, secured the ball, and throwing it down, it was also caught by one of the outside party. Query–Is the knocker out? The umpire decided it not out, because he considered it a dead ball, while the majority of the players were of opinion that it was out according to Rule 23. By giving and answer, you would confer a great favor on your obedient servant, R.N.E. The case presented by our correspondent is rather a peculiar one, and one not provided for in the Rules–in which “trees” are not spoken of. At the Elysian Fields, Hoboken, balls are frequently knocked into the trees; but they always come down of their own accord, and if caught before touching the ground, are considered “fly catches,” because, we presume, the trees “have no business to be there.” If a ball should be lodged in the crotch of a tree, it would, if we were the umpire, be decided a foul ball, or no ball; and we think that, in the justice of the decision, all would coincide. It is true that Sec. 23 expressly states, that if a ball from the stroke of the bat is held “under any other circumstances” than as enumerated in Section 22 (which refers to taking the ball from the hands of a party not in the game) and “without having touched the ground more than once” the striker is out. Still, taking the ball from the crotch of a tree ought not be considered very different from the hands of a party not in the game; the only difference being, that one is “nominated in the bond” and the other is not. It certainly was not a fair catch; and our opinion is, that the umpire did right in not deciding the striker out; but he did wrong, if he did not make him strike over again. |
| Source | New York Sunday Mercury |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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