Tag Archives: Kansas City Royals

Baseball’s Ephemeral Fourth Out

When in doubt, ask a scout. Photo by Keith Allison.

Baseball seems like a fairly simple game . . . until you try to explain it to someone. Even ignoring the infield-fly rule, there’s a surprising amount of complexity packed into a few pages of guidelines.

Case in point: baseball’s part-rule, part-event, part quantum physics experiment, the fourth out. Most fans have never heard of it, although they’ve probably seen it in action. But not understanding the ins-and-outs of this technical twist can cost games.

What is the fourth out?