Doug Eddings calls "Obstruction" on himself; protects runner

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by Interested Ump

Private in what sense? How are these memorandums tied to the OBR for purposes of authority?

Private in the sense that they're only sent to MLB umpires (and maybe the teams).

They don't affect OBR until they become "public" (e.g., published in OBR or NAPBL) or until the play happens often enough for the public to draw a conclusion.

In the current play, for example, we don't know if Eddings made a mistak, or follwoed direction. If the play happens a few more times, and each time the umpire disallows the out and returns the runner, then that will be seen as the "accepted practice" and will affect how the game is called at the amateur level.