[PeteBooth]

Originally posted by wobster

Playing summer league under OBR. Here's the sitch.

R1, R2, R3, BR hits a grounder to 3B. 3B misfields the ball, but he kicked it, and stops between his feet. He reaches down to pick it up, and is standing directly in the baseline. R2 runs into him, not hard, or probably even intentional, both stumble, R3 makes it to 3rd. What are the penalties.

First off on BATTED balls, INTENT is not a requirement. If the runner interfered, he / she interfered whether they meant to or not.

When a batted ball is hit, we as umpires judge which fielder gets PROTECTION, meaning the runner must NOT interfere with the fielders attempt to field the ball. In other words, the fielder has the "right away"

Now the question? - When does the Protection end?

Normally, the Protection ends as soon as the Fielder Releases the ball, however should the Fielder mishandle the ball, he/she is STILL protected if the ball is within a "step and reach". Since the ball was at F5's Feet, IMO F5 is still protected at this point.

Therefore, without actually being there and going by your wording of events, here's the call.

1. TIME
2. That's interference
3. R2 out.

R3 back to third; R1 to second and B1 to first.

Now let's assume the ball was kicked or mishandled and rolled several feet passed F5 and F5 was still in the base-line when R2 collided with him/her. In this scenario, one could rule Obstruction Type "B", wait until playing action is over and then impose any penalties (if any) to negate the act of Obstruction. In your play I would award R2 third base (assuming he was put out).

Pete Booth


[Edited by PeteBooth on Jun 17th, 2004 at 10:35 AM]