Interference by BR

[tibear]

Originally Posted by PeteBooth

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You are quoting the incorrect rule code. As soon as B1 hit the ball towards F3 his/her status is now of a runner not a batter. We do not "wave off" interference. As soon as B1 interfered with F3 the call is

1. TIME
2. That's Interference
3. B1 is out, others return to TOP bases EXCEPT if you deem the interference to be intentional in which case R3 is also out.

As soon as the Umpire says TIME, the play is dead regardless of what happens afterwards. From my experience, once you as an umpire call TIME play stops anyway.

Here is another example; R1 interferes with F4, however, F4 still manages to get the throw off to F6 to complete the 4-6-3 DP. As soon as we rule interference, the play is dead and unless we judge R1's act of interference to be intentional, we call R1 out and leave B1 at first.

Interference is an IMMEDIATE dead ball. We do not Wait to enforce or enforce AFTERWARDS. Exception: If B1 interferes with F2 but F2 throws out the runner, in that case the interference is waved off.

Reference OBR rule 7

Pete Booth

I recognize what your saying. However, if you look at the play, did interference really occur. The BR attempted to interfere with F3 but was unsuccessful because F3 still made the catch, so in fact there was no interference.

I was looking at the rulesofbaseball.com website where it has a test quiz question very similar to this one where there is R2 and the Batter bunts towards first. The BR is running illegally towards first and is "grazed" by a thrown ball from the catcher but F3 still catches the ball to register the out, R2 continues on and scores on the play. The website indicates that it is a grey area because most umpires would immediately call interference and call the play dead, however they indicate that most professional umpires would ignore the interference and let the run score. Their interpretation is that the rulebook states that it is up to the umpire to determine if interference really occured and in this case since the out was registered, no interference took place.