At the time of pitch, which statement correctly defines 'in fair ground' for fielders?

• A. All fielders are in fair ground when at least one foot is touching fair ground.
• B. To be considered to be in fair ground, fielders must have both feet in fair ground.
• C. Just the battery (pitcher and catcher) has to be on fair ground.
• D. To be considered to be in fair ground, fielders and catchers must have both feet in fair ground.

Answer: (B)

Fair ground means the field area inside the foul lines, including the lines themselves. At the moment of the pitch, a fielder is in fair ground only if both feet are in fair ground. This gives an clear, objective rule: if one foot is in fair territory and the other is in foul territory, the fielder is not considered to be in fair ground, which helps avoid ambiguous plays near the lines. The lines are part of fair territory, so a foot on the line counts as being in fair ground, but having the other foot outside foul territory means not in fair ground.

The other statements would either let a fielder be in fair ground with only one foot inside, or narrow the rule to only certain teammates, which isn’t how this definition applies to fielders overall.