"Accidental Interference"

[harmbu]

FED rules. R1 with one out. Ground ball to F4. He throws to F6 to force the runner at second. As F6 is making the throw to F3 there is contact between him and the sliding runner. The throw is late and BR is safe. After the play is over, I ask for time and ask if the contact was beyond the base. He says, "Coach, what I have here is accitental interference." This term sounded foreign to me so I ask what he means. He says "Hold on. I will talk with my partner." He goes to his partner and comes back and says the contact way not beyond the base. I accept this and return to the dugout. When I got home that night, I decided to try to figure out what he meant. I got my book out and could not find the term "accidental interference" anywhere. Can anyone explain?

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by harmbu

FED rules. R1 with one out. Ground ball to F4. He throws to F6 to force the runner at second. As F6 is making the throw to F3 there is contact between him and the sliding runner. The throw is late and BR is safe. After the play is over, I ask for time and ask if the contact was beyond the base. He says, "Coach, what I have here is accitental interference." This term sounded foreign to me so I ask what he means. He says "Hold on. I will talk with my partner." He goes to his partner and comes back and says the contact way not beyond the base. I accept this and return to the dugout. When I got home that night, I decided to try to figure out what he meant. I got my book out and could not find the term "accidental interference" anywhere. Can anyone explain?

Coach, you may not think this quesiton is important but which umpire did you ask, the BU or the PU? Thanks.

MTD, Sr.

[justanotherblue]

I think you need to read the FPSR. Sounds like he booted the call. Under Fed rules, your situation sounds like it should have been ruled interference. The only way I know of not having the FPSR enforced in Fed is, if the fielder is on the first base side of the bag and the runner performs a legal slide.

[PeteBooth]

[QUOTE=harmbu;676246]

FED rules. R1 with one out. Ground ball to F4. He throws to F6 to force the runner at second. As F6 is making the throw to F3 there is contact between him and the sliding runner. The throw is late and BR is safe. After the play is over, I ask for time and ask if the contact was beyond the base.

Did F6 actually make the throw?

If so, the question should be directed at the PU. In FED on a FPSR violation it is the PU's responsibility to watch for the interference at second base if there is a throw because the BU is turning away from the play to make the call at first base.

If there was no throw then you can ask the BU.

He says, "Coach, what I have here is accidental interference." This term sounded foreign to me so I ask what he means. He says "Hold on. I will talk with my partner."

There is no such term as 'accidental interference". There is a term called "weak interference" but NOT in any FED interps. In other words FED does not accept the ruling for "weak interference" as does OBR.

He goes to his partner and comes back and says the contact was not beyond the base. I accept this and return to the dugout.

If the contact was NOT beyond the base then in effect there was no interference.

In summary: If the ball was thrown on a FPSR violation you should be asking the PU. Also, no such term as "accidental interference" in FED.

Pete Booth

[harmbu]

It was the plate umpire that I asked. The way I understand it the BU has the safe/out call and then turns his attention toward the impending play at first base while the plate umpire watches for the contact. Am I correct in this?

[harmbu]

Originally Posted by justanotherblue

I think you need to read the FPSR.

I did read the FPSR. This is why I asked where the contact occured.

[PeteBooth]

[QUOTE=harmbu;676253]

It was the plate umpire that I asked. The way I understand it the BU has the safe/out call and then turns his attention toward the impending play at first base while the plate umpire watches for the contact. Am I correct in this?[/

QUOTE]

Yes

Pete Booth

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by harmbu

It was the plate umpire that I asked. The way I understand it the BU has the safe/out call and then turns his attention toward the impending play at first base while the plate umpire watches for the contact. Am I correct in this?

Either umpire can call FPSR violations. As BU, I ended a game last week on a FPSR violation, where R1 slid to the side of and past the base to make contact with F6 covering.

You asked the PU one relevant question: was there contact beyond the base. He answered that question, and it's umpire judgment all the way. That's not the only relevant question. But just because you saw contact, I would not conclude that there must have been an FPSR violation.

Forgot to add: since intent is not a requirement of interference, assessing whether the INT was "accidental" is irrelevant. There's no such term.

[bob jenkins]

My guess is that PU meant "incidental contact" but got tongue tied.

Still, you asked the correct question.

Originally Posted by justanotherblue

The only way I know of not having the FPSR enforced in Fed is, if the fielder is on the first base side of the bag and the runner performs a legal slide.

IF the (otherwise legal) contact is on top of / over the base, it's also legal.

In FED, the contact would be illegal if it was beyond the base; this type of contact would be legal in NCAA.