page_title: The Common Law Origins of the Infield Fly Rule
section_title: Conclusion
hierarchical_section_title: The Common Law Origins of the Infield Fly Rule / The article / Conclusion
caption_attribution_description: An umpire calls an infield fly.
context_page_description: "The Common Law Origins of the Infield Fly Rule" is the title of an article by William S. Stevens published in 1975 in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. The brief eight-page article has vastly surpassed its modest original context, having been cited in federal and state judicial opinions and more than 100 works of legal literature. It has been included in a number of anthologies of baseball law, and prompted copycat and parody articles. The New York Times called the article "one of the most celebrated and imitated analyses in American legal history."
context_section_description: Stevens concluded his article by comparing the "dynamics of the common law" and the development of "one of the most important technical rules of baseball."  Both, he argued, were "essentially conservative," creating change only when a problem arose and only to the extent needed.  The article ended: "Although problems are solved very slowly when this attitude prevails, the solutions that are adopted do not create many new difficulties. If the process reaps few rewards, it also runs few risks.":1480-81
caption: In a 2014 Major League Baseball game an umpire points to the sky while shouting "infield fly" to notify the New York Yankees's shortstop, Derek Jeter (L), the second baseman (R), and the other team's baserunners -- both verbally and by gesture -- that he has invoked the infield fly rule
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