Interference Question
 

I am coach who follows this board but does not post much. I am hoping that someone can help me with a question........

In OBR rules, the catcher is about to catch a foul ball near the offensive team's dugout and someone in the dugout yells "I got it". Catcher drops the ball. Is this interference?

starman,

No.

Under OBR, interference must be physical.

JM

Thanks!

Agreed with UmpJM, but many youth leagues have the verbal interference (correctly, imo).

And Starman, if you look real, real hard in the OBR you'll see where it says that the umpire is to not do anything other than laugh real hard when the player who screamed gets drilled by a pitch during his next time at-bat. :D

Didn't A-Rod as R2 yell something that caused F6 to muff a pop-up a few years ago? I know it caused a lot of stink then, but I forget if A-Rod was called out for it. Probably not, but does anyone recall for sure?

Rodriguez Says ‘Ha,’ but Jays Aren’t Laughing - New York Times

He did it to the Blue Jays F5 in May 2007. No interference was called. Unclear if he got dusted the next time they met.

On July 17th, he was HBP. Don't know the circumstances.

In the game you reference, he was HBP with a 1-1 count, game tied 2-2, top of 10. I'm just guessing not retaliation... My reference is the "play-by-play" section of the link you posted.

Rodriguez Is Hit, but Clemens Delivers Final Blow - New York Times

Well, later in August in Toronto, it was pretty clear what their intentions were. Clemens got ejected for retaliating the retaliation.