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Carl and Warren have made very logical cases, but lets go back to the original play.
F1 cleanly fielded the ball and cleanly fielded to first.
Giving the BR first base and R1 second presupposes that the defense WILL err on the play, which I think is almost as bad as presupposing the defense will NOT err.
Carl disagrees, but I think the compromise ruling, FOR THE AVERAGE UMPIRE, is easier to defend to a protest committee than awarding both runners a base on a one-hopper back to the mound.
My compromise is to award R1 second and call the BR out (none of the above on Carl's list). From the description of the play, THIS is the most likely output. In FED, I would feel compelled to make this call, since to me it fits well under FED 10-2-3(l). Since there isn't a CLEAR way of handling this under OBR (Carl's play is interesting, but not entirely relevant since it was the defense who illegally interfered) I would follow the FED principle in guiding me to make this call.
While my response is different from Carl's and Warren's, is it no less thought out, I assure you.
Rich
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Rich Fronheiser
co-owner, UmpiresTalk
eContact, eUmpire.com
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