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ASA adult rec. SP, E league (or worse) playoff game. I was PU.
R1 at 3B, R2 at 1B, no outs. Batter hits moderate to slow grounder to F5, who was playing a touch behind the base. R1 make some verbal comments to F5, presumably trying to distract him, and then takes two agressive steps into fair territory, directly toward F5, who by then was even with the base. R1 was going to hold at 3B and was not running home; it was quite obvious to everyone that he was running at F5 to distract him. In my opinion (and not just because he had showed poor sportsmanship the entire game), he was trying to hinder F5's ability to catch and/or throw the ball, I called a dead ball, R1 out.
I awarded the batter 1B and R2 2B. I probably would have let it go had R1 not taken two steps toward F5 into the diamond in an obvious attempt to distract F5. I'm confident I made the correct call, both in terms of interference and awarding the batter 1B, as F5 had no play at 2B for a potential DP and F5 didn't even look there, but threw to 1B (in time to get the runner, but that's irrelevant as the ball was dead by then). I don't think R1 was trying to prevent a DP; he was just trying to make F5 bobble (thus, everyone safe) or make a poor throw to F3.
My partner, who has more years of experience than I and is a highly respected umpire, said I either should have let it go or called a double play, as "the rule book does not cover every situation." I disagreed and said the rule book covers this precisely and that the DP call was only appropriate if it was an obvious attempt to prevent a DP. I think calling a DP (the other out would be the immediately succeeding runner, R2, as I understand the rules) would have been overkill here. The penalty that resulted may not have been that severe here, as F5 would have made the play and R1 was not going home, but that's beside the point and irrelevant, as we cannot "wait and see" how the play turns out before call interference. Any thoughts?
[Edited by Tap on Sep 4th, 2003 at 09:32 AM]
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