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Originally Posted by TussAgee11
Now that I read the rule more closely, maybe you can give awards even if that runner was not the one obstructed. "The umpire shall... impose such penalties, if any, as in that umpire's judgement will nulify the act of obstruction".
But, again, are we willing to give awards to other runners who are simply confused by yelling and don't know what to do other than to return to their base? I say not, the defense has done nothing wrong to award THAT runner a base. We can not correlate the act of obstruction to the reason that runner returned. He/she returned because of the CONFUSION that the obstruction may have caused among themselves and his/her coaches. Not the defense's fault. We give and award for that, we get on a slippery slope, in my mind.
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This reasoning is just flat out wrong. The act of obstruction awards the obstructed runner, and if it pushes home a preceding runner to make the award, that's just tough luck for the defense.
You cannot say the defense didn't do anything wrong. They did. They obstructed a runner. Where would you place the BR if you call obstruction between 2nd and 3rd, and judged that he would have made 3rd? Certainly not back to 2nd base, right? There has to be some penalty for blocking the runner's path, and that penalty is advancing the runner to the base he would have attained had he not been obstructed. He gets 3rd base, and if that sends the confused runner home, oh well. That is the proper way to rule on obstruction.