There are a number of rules in baseball that are designed to ensure good sportsmanship and fair play during the course of a game. One of the best examples is the infield fly rule. Intended to prevent the incidence of a double play or triple play under circumstances that make the task too easy, the infield fly rule ensures that both teams engage in strategies that challenge the talents of all players, without providing either team with an unfair advantage.

There are specific circumstances that have to be in place before the infield fly rule can be invoked. First, the team currently at bat can only have one out thus far in the inning. Second, the bases must be loaded. That is, the team must have runners already placed on the first, second, and third bases. Without these two requirements, there is no opportunity for the infield fly rule to be applied.

Umpires play a specific role in calling an infield fly rule. For example, the current batter hits a fly ball that the umpire deems to be a fair fly ball. The ball heads into the infield, where there is a good chance that an infielder will catch the ball in flight. If that is the case, the umpire is required to yell “infield fly, if fair.” In cases where the umpire believes the catch is a sure thing, it is permissible for the umpire to call the play as an infield fly and declare the batter out. Under the rules associated with this call, the batter would be declared out, even if the infielder did not actually catch the ball.

There are a couple of other instances where the infield fly rule would apply. If an infielder moves into the outfield in order to catch the ball, and does not exert unusual effort to do so, the rule can be invoked, even if an outfielder actually caught the fly. The same is true if an outfielder moves into the infield area and ultimately catches the ball in flight.

The infield fly rule was added in 1895, as a means of dealing with strategies that were understood to be undermining the game and creating a state of unfair gamesmanship. Under the existing rules of the day, infielders were intentionally dropping pop-up fly balls and then using the strategy to force out runners who were on base, but were not allowed to run while the ball was in the air. The addition of the infield fly rule helped to minimize the impact of this procedure on the game, and was seen as a measure to promote talent and prowess on the field instead of the use of technicalities to obtain an unfair advantage over the opponent.