Quote:
Originally Posted by Stat-Man
mbcrowder:
Speaking ASA, what is the proper mechanic?
Last summer, we had a situation where a B/R was obstructed by F3 (F3 had his back to the bag and never saw where the BR was) rounding first and the umpire neither signaled nor verbalized obstruction. I didn't even know if he had even seen the OBS until he told F3 to pay attention and stay out of the way when there is no play at first.
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That's worse. I guess given the two choices, running around with your arm sticking out looking silly is superior to not verbalizing or signaling!
And probably slightly better than one partner I worked with for the first time who yelled "obstruction at first!!!!" so loud that everyone - fielders, runners, coaches, even me - stopped what they were doing to see what he was yelling about.
Anyway... verbalize, and signal for long enough that others have a chance to see it.
There are a LOT of umpires out there who seem to think (or worse ... teach) that you should hold your arm out until the moment the runner gets to the base you were going to protect them to (even if that means all the way from first to home). This is wrong. 2 seconds or so is probably plenty.