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Originally Posted by JJ
I posed this question to the FED folks -
R1 slides into home plate, trying to score. The catcher has caught the ball and is legally blocking the runner's access to home plate. The runner legally contacts the catcher and dislodges the ball. Would the catcher NOW be guilty of obstruction since he is now blocking access to the base while not in possession of the ball?
The official interp from the FED folks is
NO, it's not obstruction, since the runner dislodged the ball.
I have a related question in to them and will post it as soon as I get a reply.
JJ
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I can see their point, no obstruction since the offense caused the problem.
This rule is going to have to be fixed, it will just take a few years of playing around with it, kind of like the FPSR a few years ago.
Obstruction should be about intent, and accidental obstruction should be left to the umpire IMO. That's why we have umpires. But that's another discussion.
Its hard to penalize the defense for something they didn't do, or when they did it right to start with.
Thanks
David