[greymule]

Very good point, Pete. Reminds me of the play at second where they go in standing up to make the shortstop throw around them. We didn't need seventeen case book plays and a couple of school psychologists and a bureaucrat from OSHA to figure it out. One shot in the noggin cured that stuff and everybody knew it. Therefore you didn't see it.

A month ago, I was BU in a game with the PU 80 years old, and we had two obstruction calls in the first three innings. After the game, I asked him, "Charlie, in all the time you played ball, how many times did you see interference or obstruction called?" Answer: "Few times the batter hit the catcher's mitt. Can't remember any fielders obstructing runners. Maybe once or twice a runner ran into a fielder on a batted ball."

I didn't play as long as Charlie, but in my dozen or so years of school, Legion, college, and semi-pro, I simply can't remember any of these interference/obstruction questions that now clog the boards ever mattering. First baseman cheating his way down in front of the bag before the throw gets there? Wasn't an issue. The players knew what was fair and what wasn't, and that kind of stuff was just not tolerated.

As for the mouthing off, you were supposed to ignore it as long as it wasn't personal.