MLB Rulebook question -- Catch on a ball out of play

[TooLiveBrew]

Just saw a highlight of a guy making a catch in LC, and his jump carried him over the wall out of play. He made the catch, and got mobbed by some fans (small college bball). It got me wondering how that's scored/ruled upon. Quick internet search (mlb.com rules section) turned this up:

Rule 7.04© Comment: If a fielder, after having made a legal catch, should fall into a stand or among spectators or into the dugout or any other out-of-play area while in possession of the ball after making a legal catch, or fall while in the dugout after making a legal catch, the ball is dead and each runner shall advance one base, without liability to be put out, from his last legally touched base at the time the fielder fell into, or in, such out-of-play area.

 

 

If this is the rule, was the 'famous' Jeter catch -- crashing into the stands in foul territory -- scored correctly? This explanation doesn't differentiate between fair & foul balls. Iirc, Jeter's play was in 2004. Perhaps the rules have changed.

[Schlitz001]

A weird situation involving this rule came into play in Dodgers/Padres game I was watching. A runner was on third for the Dodgers with less than 2 outs when the batter (Russell Martin I think) popped a ball into foul territory. Josh Bard chased it down, made the catch and slid into the dugout out of play. He quickly got up and held the runner at thrid. Then Joe Torre came out and argued that because Bard went out of play, the run should be allowed to score. The umpires got together and sure enough, the runner on third was allowed to go home.

I'm not sure if I have all the details right, but after the play happened I was wondering if Torre somehow knew this rule because of what happened in the Jeter play.

[TooLiveBrew]

Schlitz, do you remember how that Jeter catch was scored?

[kramnoj]

Here is a link to mlb.com that has a few recaps of that game:

 

http://www.mlb.com/news/wrap.jsp?ymd=20040701&content_id=786018&vkey=wrapup2004&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

 

 

There were two outs in the inning when he made the catch, and I didn't see a mention of the rule, or any controversy over it.

[TooLiveBrew]

Thanks for the link, kramnoj. Must be that, since it was the 3d out, the runner advance rule was irrelevant. I definitely want to see if this rule comes up in 2008.

[kramnoj]

The only other thing I can think of is that the catch was clearly in the field of play, but Jeter's momentum was such that he had to choose between crashing into the wall or doing he what he did, jumping over it. I don't remember any discussion of this in the game at all, but maybe the rule doesn't apply if there is a gap of some kind between catching the ball and then going out of play.