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Originally Posted by mbyron
Everyone's familiar with the umpire interference (UI) where the BU in the infield gets hit by a batted ball which an infielder could have a play on. We kill it, award BR 1B, and other runners return unless forced.
But there's another kind of UI: when PU interferes with F2's attempt to retire a runner who's stealing, we kill it and send the runner back.
Had a situation last weekend that, I now think, probably should have been UI. I was BU.
R2 stealing, outs don't matter. F2 comes up, steps on umpire's foot, throw sails into LF. (This is the same play I posted in another thread, where F5 landed on the runner and I called OBS, but that's another story.)
As we discussed the call I had made on F5, my partner mentioned that the throw was so bad because F2 had stepped on his foot. I asked him whether that wasn't UI (and explained the rule to him). He decided not to call it, since he hadn't moved: F2 had simply put his foot in the wrong place.
This was clearly his call, and he understood the rule, so I didn't argue with him. If I had been PU, I probably would have ruled UI on myself, on the grounds that, even if I'm in my usual position, F2 should have an unhindered play on the runner stealing.
I don't know the enforcement of this rule, and don't have the MLBUM. I would appreciate any guidance.
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If F2 just came up and threw (i.e. he didn't go out of his way to attempt to contact PU) then I have interference. I would have called the play you described "interference" even when I was a MiLB umpire.
There is no requirement that the umpire's movement initiate or contribute to the contact.
From J/R:
"R1, left handed batter. After receiving a pitch, the catcher twists to throw a pickoff to first base. Despite bumping the mask of the umpire, the catcher throws to a fielder at first. (The runner is not immediately retired on the catcher's throw): time is imposed, the interference enforced..."
Note that in the J/R example, the umpire did not initiate the contact. In fact, the example does not even state that the umpire moved. The only movement that occurs in the example is that the catcher "twist(ed) to throw." Irregardless, according to J/R, it is still umpire interference.
In your example, the umpire did not initiate the contact...but it does not matter as there was contact. Your partner should have called UI.
As an aside...long before I was an umpire of any competence, in the early 1990's I actually saw this called in a MLB game that I attended. The batting coach for the Red Sox got tossed as a result.