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Originally Posted by Tru_in_Blu
A little confused on this one. If the fielder is not playing the ball, how then do the ball and runner arrive at the same time? Arrive where? This is close to the OP, where ball and runner arrive at the same time while F3 is trying to catch the ball (i.e. making a play).
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"Arrive" meaning the fielder, ball and runner all arrive/meet at the same location at the same time. This is describing what was formally referred to as a 'train wreak' which was a more popular term when "about to receive" was part of the rule. Back in the old days, ATR allowed for a collision between runner and fielder without the ball and no call.
Think about it: with the way the rule is written now, there is no "wriggle room" for collisions; possession is the key. If the throw pulls F3 into the runner, we have obstruction. But if the "hindrance" happened at the moment the fielder gained possession (i.e. "the EXACT moment") then we have the old fashioned train wreck. It is still (theoretically) possible, not not likely. Like I say, a very narrow window of time.
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In my OP, I did not call OBS because of the initial bump, although given another few seconds, might have. I called the OBS when F3 clearly tried climbing over the runner to retrieve the ball.
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However, it most likely was obstruction.
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For those of you in the camp that OBS occurred before first base, would you suggest that there should have been 2 OBS calls? "Obstruction...Obstruction."
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You can have two obstructions. I have, but at third: BR stretching for a triple, is obstructed going into third. I did not protect to third at the moment of obstruction because the ball, while not in possession of F5, was just about in the coach's box. As the runner and fielder get up to their feet, another obstruction happened, this time between ("on") third, so now I'm protecting to home. Yes, I gave two distinct obstruction signals.