A weird thing happened in Kansas City tonight and it appeared to rob Starling Marte of a home run. But after watching the video and consulting the rule book, it looks like they actually got this call right. Marte hit a shot to left field that hit the padding along the wall. It then bounced up and landed in the bullpen. Seems like a pretty cut and dry home run. After all if a dude can hit a home run off Jose Canseco's dome, surely he can hit one off the wall.Here's the relevant rule for a ground rule double, which begins "The batter becomes a runner when—"(e) A fair ball, after touching the ground, bounds into the stands, or passes through, over or under a fence, or through or under a scoreboard, or through or under shrubbery, or vines on the fence, in which case the batter and the runners shall be entitled to advance two bases;This, coupled with the definition of "In Flight" seems to make Marte's shot a ground rule double: "IN FLIGHT describes a batted, thrown, or pitched ball which has not yet touched the ground or some object other than a fielder."Clearly, the wall is treated the same as the ground. The only thing the ball could deflect off and still be considered a home run is the fielder himself, or his equipment. This (along with 6.09(h)) explains why it's not a Canseco situation. There's no yellow line out there like in other ballparks, and there is also that fencing behind the padding, so a ball has to go all the way over on the fly to be a home run.[MLB]
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