Exhibits, Shows and Displays

What happens when an OF tosses a flyball into the stands thinking its the 3rd out?

Say there is a man on second and the OF thinks he just caught the 3rd out and tosses the ball to a fan in the stands. How many bases can the man on second take?

Public Comments

1. 2 bases 7.05 Each runner including the batter-runner may, without liability to be put out, advance— (g) Two bases when, with no spectators on the playing field, a thrown ball goes into the stands, or into a bench (whether or not the ball rebounds into the field), or over or under or through a field fence, or on a slanting part of the screen above the backstop, or remains in the meshes of a wire screen protecting spectators. The ball is dead. When such wild throw is the first play by an infielder, the umpire, in awarding such bases, shall be governed by the position of the runners at the time the ball was pitched; in all other cases the umpire shall be governed by the position of the runners at the time the wild throw was made;
2. well depends... with runners on then its a free base.. with no runners on its nothing... get a new ball.
3. Im sure someone will tell me who but some player done that a couple of season's ago. He was playing RF caught a fly ball and gave the ball to a kid in the first row started to jog off and then realised it was the second out and the player at 2nd came around to score while the player was trying to get the ball back from the kid. Quite funny coz it was not me. HAHA!!
4. As embarassing as the Larry Walker incident was, at least the ball didn't deflect off his head into the bleachers a la Jose Canseco lol (Who did he think he was Bo Jackson?, trying to play 2 sports at once?)
5. It wasn't as bad as Jason Michaels on the Phillies in CF. He was running back, the ball hit him right on the noggin and went into the stands. HOME RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6. the umps will prob. let him go to 3rd
7. NY33 is correct. All runners get 2 bases from the last base they legally occupied at the time the throw was released. The fact that it was a mental mistake doesn't matter, the rule is applied the same way as if the OF makes a throw to a base, which goes wide and into a dugout (or otherwise out of play). This is the type of play where uninformed spectators often wonder what's going on. I had a similar situation in a game on Monday. The right fielder caught a fly ball and threw to 1st to try to get a runner who was off the base (he was stealing on the pitch). The throw went wide and into the dugout. The runner got 3rd base because its 2 bases from the base he last occupied, most of the fans (who don't know the rule) didn't understand why he got 3rd instead of only 2nd.