On Deck Rules Question
 

Last night at my son's (14 yr old Pony league) game he was in the on deck circle. The batter hit a foul tip over the fence (20 feet high). The trajectory of the ball was right over my son's head while standing in the on deck circle. The catcher ran over to attempt to catch the ball, even though it was over the fence and foul, and pushed my son out of the way as he also looked up at the ball.
The umpire called my son for interference and the batter out.
None of the coaches have ever seen such a play and did not argue the call.


Is this the correct call?

How far over the fence?

One can only interfere with a play. No play - no interference

If it was close and might have come down in the field then it's a good call.

If everyone in the park knew there was no way it was anywhere near catchable then it's a bad call.

What did the on-deck batter interfere with? The catcher's opportunity to watch a foul popup go out of play? If the play happened as you described, I don't see how this can be called interference.

It was clear to me it was over the fence but it is possible that the catcher was not sure until the ball came down on the other side.

I looked up the official rules and found rule 3.15 that seems to be explicit that if the interference is not intentional then the play continues.

Let me know if you read it the same.

You have the wrong rule for this situation. Non-participants that are allowed on the field (ODB is one) need to get completely out of the way and bear the responsibility to do so. If nothing else, I hope you and your son learned this from the experience (even though I believe the call was wrong).

That said - who it was or was not clear to regarding where the ball might come down is irrelevant. What the catcher thought is irrelevant. WHERE THE BALL CAME DOWN is what's relevant. If the ball was catchable, this was interference. If the ball was not catchable (and it sounds like it was not, given that it landed outside a 20 foot high fence), this is a HORRIBLE call.

So 3.15 does not apply?

Official Baseball Rules, 3.15 No person shall be allowed on the playing field during a game except players and coaches in uniform, managers, news photographers authorized by the home team, umpires, officers of the law in uniform and watchmen or other employees of the home club. In case of unintentional interference with play by any person herein authorized to be on the playing field (except members of the offensive team participating in the game, or a coach in the coach’s box, or an umpire) the ball is alive and in play. If the interference is intentional, the ball shall be dead at the moment of the interference and the umpire shall impose such penalties as in his opinion will nullify the act of interference.

As the rule states, the on-deck batter is allowed on the field. Therefore, if the interference is not intentional, then the ball is alive and in play.

See Rule 7.11

Keep going:

Rule 3.15 Comment: For interference with a fielder attempting to field a batted or thrown
ball by members of the team at bat or base coaches, who are excepted in Rule 3.15, see Rule 7.11. See
also Rules 5.09(b), 5.09(f) and 6.08(d), which cover interference by an umpire, and Rule 7.08(b),
which covers interference by a runner.

No, this was not the correct call. As others have stated, there was no way that F2 was going to catch this ball so the umpire was incorrect in assessing the penalty. Teach your son to do what we do. When he is on deck, if the ball is hit. watch F2, not the ball. F2 will lead you to where the ball is so if F2 is coming at him, move out of the way!

You were given several rules to look up which is good but in this case, this is a situation where the umpire needs to use his head. The ball is sailing over the fence so there can be no interference from a player - it's that simple. Also, stop sounding like an announcer. That was a foul ball not a foul tip. Foul tips are caught by F2 (usually) and the ball is live. Foul balls are always dead.

For NCAA and FED (not sure about OBR), foul tips cannot be caught by anyone but F2.

MLBUM says it must be caught by the catcher.

FED just changed this in the past few years, too, which is probably why ozzy misspoke.