Obstruction

[greymule]

My two cents:

In OBR, I would call R1 out at 2B. The obstruction had no effect on the outcome. J/R cites similar plays.

Fed is another story, since it does not distinguish between A and B, and its interpretations are more absolute. For example, BR gets a hit to center field and takes a wide turn around 1B. BR scrambles back to 1B and, as the throw comes in to 2B, trips over F3's foot. In OBR, BR is simply protected to 1B. In Fed, he is awarded 2B.

To take an extreme example, Abel on 2B, Baker on 1B, two outs. Charles hits a hard one-hopper to F5, who gloves the ball and starts to trot toward 3B to get the easy force on Abel. However, Abel, running toward 3B, suddenly reverses direction and crashes into F6, who was in the baseline as he made his way toward his dugout, anticipating the obvious third out.

On OBR, this OBS is ignored and Abel is out.

When I did Fed years ago, I would also have ignored that OBS even though, technically, it should be called.