Quote:
Originally posted by Dakota
I was reading the threads on McGriffs regarding the ball on home plate, and I started to wonder about the legal status of a fielder who is waiting on the ball to go foul.
R1 on 3B, B2 hits a little dribbler up the 3rd base line. F2 is standing over the slowly moving ball waiting for it to go foul. R1 is running home and unintentionally runs into F2. (Don't ask me how I know it was unintentional; it just was!)
What is the call? Interference? Obstruction? Does F2 have the legal protection of a fielder attempting to make a play, or as was suggested on McGriffs, has F2 chosen to not field the ball, so there is no play, and F2 is guilty of obstruction?
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Speaking ASA
First off, the runner would have to be awfully stupid to allow this to happen, intentionally or not.
HTBT, but the rule states that the fielder must be attempting to (in this case) field a batted fair ball. If F2 had caught up to the rolling ball AND IT WAS OBVIOUS S/HE WAS MAKING NO ATTEMPT TO FIELD THE BATTED BALL, I would possibly rule obstruction. If F2 caught up the the rolling ball and allowed it to continue rolling, I may consider that batted ball to have passed the defender, once again, obstruction.
IF THERE WAS THE REMOTEST BELIEF IN MY MIND THAT F2 was going to attempt to pick-up the ball in order to make a play, interference would be the call.
All of this is predicated on the ball being fair. Rule 8.8.J specifically states the batted ball be fair unless it is a fly ball, which does not apply to this scenario. If you rule a dead ball upon contact, you must judge the ball at that moment. The rules book does not offer the authority to rule on the possibility the ball may have moved into fair territory after the fact regardless of what actually happens. Hmmm, maybe there should be a DDB for runner's interference.
Like I said, HTBT.