Is this obstruction on the batter?

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by L.A. Umpire Guy

Hall of Famer George Anderson: "The best umpires in the game are the ones who can get through nine innings without being noticed."

To a large extent, I think that's true. But, like all bromides, it isn't absolute.

Too many umpires call attention to themselves (think of the OOO's on this and other boards, as one example).

"Poor" umpires miss more calls (especially gross misses), and, thus, call attention to themsleves.

Too many umpires fail to address (some) problems early, without being noticed. Then, the problem blows up later, and the umpire is noticed.

Good umpires do none of the above, and are "less noticed" (or noticed less frequently) than bad umpires.

All that said, sometimes the play / actions dictate that the umpire be noticed.

[wheels01]

Okay - I apologize for the misuse of terms - the umpire did actually say it was interference on the batter, not obstruction.

I am 30 years old, and playing in a men's league - so I'm only doing this for fun. But in my 20some odd years of playing ball, I have never seen this called in my life - and I have seen numerous plays where a catcher tries to throw a runner out at third with a batter standing in the right handed box.

For the record, I totally disagreed with the call, and can't see turning the situation into a 'judgement' call as the umpire did. The biggest problem I have though is that at the time this happened, the umpire told me the batter 'made no attempt' to get out of the way. I understood that as him saying the batter had to move for the catcher. The next morning, the umpire changed his tune stating the batter was okay, except for he raised up out of his stance a few inches - which constituted the interference.

It makes no difference now - but I was curious to see what other umpires would say about it.

Thanks for your replies, and feel free to add any other feelings you have. I haven't seen anything yet that has made me change my mind that this was a terrible call.

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by wheels01

The next morning, the umpire changed his tune stating the batter was okay, except for he raised up out of his stance a few inches - which constituted the interference.

It very well might have been, depending on how many inches is "few" and the specific actions of the catcher.