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Bluefoot - in your 60 feet 1 inch scenario, you are going to have SOMETHING... but it is not obstruction if the runner is not, well ..., obstructed. A runner running full speed without changing direction who is not contacted before reaching the base she was trying to reach is by definition NOT obstruction... you have to have 2 things for obstruction - the fielder without the ball in position to hinder the runner's progress (which, after discussing in another thread, I now agree we have in either the 1 inch or 3 feet away scenario in this thread), AND (AND!!!!, not OR) a runner actually hindered due to that action.
Without SOME sort of deviation (slowing, sliding, turning, etc), there is no obstruction.
Now ... in your 1 inch scenario, the runner must do SOMETHING to avoid malicious contact with that fielder. The instant she does ANYTHING to avoid that, we have OBS... but if she does NOTHING, and simply kills the catcher, we have MC, USC, and a likely ejection.
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"Many baseball fans look upon an umpire as a sort of necessary evil to the luxury of baseball, like the odor that follows an automobile." - Hall of Fame Pitcher Christy Mathewson
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