Joseph Vessecchia is a graduate student pursuing an MBA at the University of Rochester. With a passion for athletics, Joseph (Joe) Vessecchia enjoys tennis and baseball.
One of the most unusual plays on the baseball field is the sacrifice fly. In a sacrifice fly, a batter hits a ball into the air, either in foul territory or the outfield, which enables a runner to score. The runner cannot move off the base until after the ball is caught, so the sacrifice fly commonly is used to advance the runner from third to home. Since the sacrifice includes an out, it must be performed when the team has fewer than two outs.
While the batter earns an RBI (run batted in) for his sacrifice fly, his at-bat is not counted. This means it does not count in his batting average. This “productive out” differs from the sacrifice bunt in which the runner is thrown out at first and the sacrifice is counted in his OBP (on-base percentage).
This can have a significant statistical impact. Babe Ruth, who played before this rule came into effect in 1954, has a higher career OBP (.474) than he would have. By contrast, Wade Boggs’ .415 lifetime OBP would have been four points higher had the rule not existed since the 96 sacrifice flies in his career were counted against him.
Joseph Vessecchia 