MLB Needs To Adopt This Savannah Bananas Rule Where The Batter Is Out If A Fan Catches Their Foul Ball
I’ve been thinking of a rule like this for a while but of course the Savannah Bananas put it into their playbook. It doesn’t matter how many strikes or outs, if a batter fouls one off and it goes into the crowd they can catch it for an out. It’s amazing, it makes bringing your glove to the game worth it. It also makes you keep your head on a swivel, I bet you won't be checking your phone every 3 seconds if you could potentially close out a game for your club, right? We saw it happen in the top of the 7th with the Party Animals at-bat, pop up into the crowd and the fan makes the snag. Inning over. They bring the fan out onto the field, Eric Byrnes raises his hand like he's a war hero and he gets a standing ovation. I mean really, what is better than that? Imagine a playoff game where your closer is in to shut it down and you get the chance to make a diving catch into a row of seats because it's a foul ball. It's every hardo's dream.
I love this rule, it really gets fans into the game. Now you also have to consider that the rule works AGAINST the Bananas too. If you catch the ball off the bat of the Bananas, it's still an out. So are you playing defense too? If you see someone trying to catch your teams ball do you box them out? Swat their arm to make them drop it? You're basically a defensive back trying to break up a pass. Sure it could get dangerous, but the reward is worth the risk. I wonder if there is a review system for a fan catching the ball. Like if he bobbles it and it goes into a pile and may have been dropped are we reviewing it? They just calling him safe? Out of all the rules of Banana Ball, this is the one I could get behind the most. The best part is he's treated like a king, brought down onto the field and paraded around for all to see. An awesome rule that needs to be implemented in baseball leagues around the country. I bet Steve Bartman wishes he had this rule back in 2003, it would have given him an excuse for going for that ball.