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There are well accepted interpretations regarding a runner not being expected to vanish into thin air regarding interference calls, especially with a retired runner, that it would not be necessary to spell that out to extend the concept to a fielder in the base path who has just muffed a catch regarding obstruction.
I would consider that much better than the current "common" (as opposed to "official") interpretation of the ASA rule that "about to receive" means "preparing to catch."
My personal view, as I've expressed here before, is that too many coaches in the JO FP game are coaching obstruction as bona fide defensive strategy, and too few umpires are calling it, so anything to clarify the rule so the calls will be made is welcome. I'm sorry the ASA rejected the change. But, I'll just keep applying the current rule as intended.
Also in the "IMO" category, I'd like to see the obstruction rule given a bit more of a "punishment" flavor (as opposed to its current "restoration" flavor), particularly if it is judged to be intentional / coached tactics. I haven't given any thought to how to structure such a rule so as to be fair to the defense and avoid the problem NFHS had with umpires not calling it because the punishment was too severe in many cases.
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Tom
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