As one of the trainers in our local chapter I always invite the new umpire prospects to come up with possible scenarios (what ifs) that I can use to illustrate rules and applications. About 99% of the time there is no problem referring to an appropriate rule to explain what governs their question. Once in a while, however, they come up with something (the evil 1%) that I never entertained a thought of happening and subsequently had no definitive answer for.
To wit: Batter hits line drive that the short stop leaps high for. As he leaps for the ball his glove accidentally slips off of his hand. Ball enters glove and ball stays in it. Glove with ball in it descends and short stop catches it.
Is it:
a) A catch
b) no catch, play on
or
horror of horrors
c) the short stop, after catching the glove with the ball in it, is now guilty of touching a batted ball with detached equipment (glove is "held" rather than "worn" on the hand) and award the B/R three bases.
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