Catching the Ball Without a Glove
Kyle from Tennessee asks:
Is a player's glove required to be on to catch a ball? If a player's glove comes off, but they catch the ball successfully, will it still stand as if they had their glove on?
No, a player does not have to have their glove on to catch the ball and can catch the ball barehanded if they so wish and still retire the batter.
However, it is important to note that, with the glove off of the fielders hand, if the fielder touches a fair ball with his detatched glove on purpose or throws his glove and touches a fair ball on purpose, then each runner gets three bases. In this scenerio the ball remails live and the runners can advance further then three bases at their own peril.
Answered by: Jonathan Bravo
Keywords: MLB Rule 7.05(b,c)