[wheels01]

Okay - I apologize for the misuse of terms - the umpire did actually say it was interference on the batter, not obstruction.

I am 30 years old, and playing in a men's league - so I'm only doing this for fun. But in my 20some odd years of playing ball, I have never seen this called in my life - and I have seen numerous plays where a catcher tries to throw a runner out at third with a batter standing in the right handed box.

For the record, I totally disagreed with the call, and can't see turning the situation into a 'judgement' call as the umpire did. The biggest problem I have though is that at the time this happened, the umpire told me the batter 'made no attempt' to get out of the way. I understood that as him saying the batter had to move for the catcher. The next morning, the umpire changed his tune stating the batter was okay, except for he raised up out of his stance a few inches - which constituted the interference.

It makes no difference now - but I was curious to see what other umpires would say about it.

Thanks for your replies, and feel free to add any other feelings you have. I haven't seen anything yet that has made me change my mind that this was a terrible call.