I agree with jicecone. In this case it's not up to me to make a judgement on the intent of the batter or the reason he interfered with the catcher. The fact that he indeed did interfere is all I must rule on. Ding, ding...somebody is out!
I already have to make too many "judgement" calls - for example, was the batter "frozen" by that inside pitch, or did he just let it hit him? Based on which one of those I judge to be correct, I will either award a base or not.
But that's why we get the big money
