"until no further action is possible"

[Jim Porter]

Originally posted by David Emerling
Should the offense get the benefit of a possible overthrow in the rundown or some other malady that might befall the defense as a result of the continuation of play? I would think so.

You would, but that's just not the spirit and intent behind 7.06(b). It's not there to allow the offense to take advantage of defensive errors. It's there to prevent the offense from being penalized. It's there to ensure that a batter who smacks a ball into the corner cannot be obstructed rounding first and lose his chance to go for a triple, or even more. It keeps us from having to stop that batter-runner and only award him second base.

Remember, we're talking about Pro rules, here. The kind of gross overthrow you are talking about during a rundown would be rarer than Count Dracula's sirloin steak in the bigs. These rules were not designed for Little, or even Interscholastic League Baseball.

And, finally, when an overthrow occurs on a throw made before play is called dead, it should not penalize the offense. That's post-obstruction evidence. You can give the obstructed runner another base if you think he had a reasonable chance of reaching there safely.

Now, if you want to see a real argument, let's suppose you do let play continue during the rundown occurring before the obstructed runner reaches his protected base. Remember that it is a rundown that would not have happened if the runner had not been obstructed.

The ball is thrown wild into the outfield, and the obstructed runner is thrown out trying to advance to the next base. You have no choice but to call him out. The whole she-bang wouldn't have occurred had the obstruction not taken place - an illegal act by the defense. You have just let the defense's illegal act, as well as their error, actually reward the defense. They were able to secure a rundown by obstructing the runner, and then throw him out as he advanced during their error. If the defense hadn't committed their illegal act, or their error, the runner would be standing on second base safely with the next batter ready to go. Good luck in getting off that field alive.

When you look at examples such as the one above, it is easy to understand why it is far wiser to kill play once the rundown begins. Now, we're only talking about a runner who gets caught in a pickle before he has reached his protected base. The way the obstruction rule is designed, that should almost NEVER happen. That would be Type A obstruction 99.999999% of the time.