>In fact, the only reason a home run is a home run often is just that there is a fence stopping the fielder from getting to the ball. Afaik, there is nothing about the outfield fence, and the ball hit over it that magically creates a home run. If the fielder could get to it before it hits dirt, it would be an out.

Yep, and there have been some beautiful plays the last few years with outfielders bringing back home run balls. I'm partial to Torii Hunter in this regard, but that's only because we have his autograph from when he was in AA.

Tamar