Obstruction on a Foul Ball?
 

Humorous situation, had to be there.

16U Tourney using OBR rules modified but nothing important to these plays. semi-final tonight, I've had both teams in the tourney, both coaches very respectable. I've got the plate, here we go.

Bottom of the first BR doubles to right center. BR rounds 1st and collides with F3 who is ball-watching. My partner missed the collision cause he was picking up the ball when contact happened. From where I was it was obvious BR would have gotten second, I made the call, to get it right. The visiting manager came out and has a discussion, and I let him, because I was reaching for my partner's call so I gave him 2 explanations instead of 1. After that for a couple of innings I saw the visiting coach over in the dugout reading the rulebook with 1 of his assistant coaches, I guess OBS doesn't happen where he is from.

Top of the 5th close game. R2, 2 outs. BR hits a popup that is coming down right at 3rd base. F5 is under the ball about 5 feet behind 3rd straddling the line. F6 is coming over to cover 3rd, no play being made. R2 and F6 collide. My partner calls out Obstruction. The ball hits F5's glove in foul territory and pops out. Foul ball runner returns to 2nd. Here comes visiting manager rule book in hand. He argues with my partner that R1 should be awarded 3rd because of the OBS. My partner looks at him like he has antenae, but invites me into the conversation. The coach points in the book and says, "it says nothing about the ball being fair, and if R2 hit F5 he'd be out for Interference even though it was a foul ball so R2 gets 3rd." He then turns and yells at R2 to get on 3rd.

Well my partner is speechless, so I said, "coach in the event of OBS runners are awarded the bases they would have legally reached had the OBS not occured, since this was a foul ball your runner is entitled to 2nd base, and I'll let him have it without the liability to be put out, now lets get back to the game coach. This came with the I'm going to turn back to the plate so everyone knows the conversation is over move. Coach followed me book open pointing, "What else is in your book and not mine, Blue?" Bye-Bye Coach.

Now here is my somewhat serious question, I don't do fed ball anymore, there just aren't enough HS teams around here, and I don't have any fed books anymore. But if I remember in FED OBS always = an awarded base in advance of the runner, please tell me there is something in the book that says it has to be a fair ball.

On the lighter side: I filled out an ejection report for the Tournament Director and the touney UIC who has the plate in tommorrow's championship game, which the visiting team will be playing in, (i get 3rd and my partner gets 1st) We were in the hospitality room when I gave them each their copy and told them about the play. The UIC laughed so hard gatorade came out his nose.

Fed is not any different on this. Obstruction can be called on a caught foul ball that remains live however in your case I think the distinction is that the foul ball bacame a dead ball once it touched the ground. Therefore, on an uncaught foul ball, the rules say the runners return to bases occupied at the time of pitch TOP.

Your explanation was right on.

FED does say the obstructed runner gets at least one base and no, it doesn't say it must be a fair ball. However, the FED definition of OBS is an act that "hinders a runner or changes the pattern of play," and since a runner is not entitled to run on a foul ball (other than tagging on a caught foul fly), I don't think it meets the criteria for OBS.

Three issues:

1. OBS should be called by any umpire who sees it. Although the base umpire has primary responsibility at 1B, PU is not "poaching" to get that.

2. Although F6 obstructed R2 in your 2nd play, the OBS is ignored because the ball is dead when foul, and no runners may advance on a dead ball. And it's different from INT because the INT prevents an out in foul territory or fair, but the OBS did not prevent a runner from advancing (the foul ball did).

3. Your smart-azz comment ("since this was a foul ball your runner is entitled to 2nd base, and I'll let him have it without the liability to be put out") escalated the situation by suggesting that the defense committed OBS and you weren't going to penalize it.

All you needed to say was, "Coach, the ball's dead when foul, and runners must return, so the OBS is ignored in this case." When he complains that 'fair ball' doesn't appear under the definition, you can explain that since the runner cannot legally advance on a foul ball, he can't possibly be obstructed.

The coach took the bait, and earned his reward, but you didn't have to troll for him. ;)

Good advice. If anything, it sounds like you gave him way too much rope after he came out with the rule book in hand. He showed you up by doing that and should have been sent packing right then and there. Coach definitely earned his ejection.