Obstruction

[Steven Tyler]

Originally Posted by johnnyg08

Minnesota stuck w/ the "stick the arm out" mechanic.

Too much change for a year I guess.

I will never use that mechanic. Don't care how it affects my post season FED status either.

If that grinds your gears, you are an Internet umpire. I'd rather see that than some crazy strike/punch out combo. Why umps are bothered with that is beyond me.

[Robmoz]

Not sure what the objection is/was to using the DDB signal, its simple, informative, and IMO useful when communicating with your partner.

[bluehair]

I've heard that player/coaches have mistaken the left arm/fist (delayed dead ball mechanic) with a right arm/fist (out mechanic). Coach thinks the umpire is calling a runner out instead of umpire protecting that runner.

[zm1283]

The entire "delayed dead ball" thing with FED is stupid in the first place. The ball is either alive or dead. Any number of things (Including OBS) can happen while the ball is alive, you just kill it when the play ends.

I think I used the "fist" mechanic one time my first season and felt like a buffoon, so I swore it off then.

[Manny A]

Originally Posted by bluehair

I've heard that player/coaches have mistaken the left arm/fist (delayed dead ball mechanic) with a right arm/fist (out mechanic). Coach thinks the umpire is calling a runner out instead of umpire protecting that runner.

The DDB signal has the entire left arm parallel to the ground. I can't even begin to imagine how that is supposed to confuse players and coaches with the standard out mechanic.

The DDB signal is still used in softball. I had a situation earlier this season where, as PU, I saw R2 get obstructed by F5 on a two-out fly ball down the leftfield line. I put out my left hand (while holding my mask) to make the DDB Obstruction call. R2 saw it, and thought I was signalling foul, so she held up and started to go back to second base. The ball was fair, her base coach yelled for her to go home, and she got confused. She ended up going back to third base safely. I didn't award her home, which she might've attained if she would have continued.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by Manny A

The DDB signal has the entire left arm parallel to the ground. I can't even begin to imagine how that is supposed to confuse players and coaches with the standard out mechanic.

The DDB signal is still used in softball. I had a situation earlier this season where, as PU, I saw R2 get obstructed by F5 on a two-out fly ball down the leftfield line. I put out my left hand (while holding my mask) to make the DDB Obstruction call. R2 saw it, and thought I was signalling foul, so she held up and started to go back to second base. The ball was fair, her base coach yelled for her to go home, and she got confused. She ended up going back to third base safely. I didn't award her home, which she might've attained if she would have continued.

Speaking softball ... you absolutely should have awarded her home. You just said why even - you thought she would have attained it had there been no obstruction. There is no requirement in ANY ruleset of either side ball that the runner must attempt to achieve the award base.

[Manny A]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

Speaking softball ... you absolutely should have awarded her home. You just said why even - you thought she would have attained it had there been no obstruction. There is no requirement in ANY ruleset of either side ball that the runner must attempt to achieve the award base.

I guess I wasn't clear. It wasn't the obstruction that prevented her from attaining home. It was the fact that she stopped running because she mistook my signal for a foul ball. If she had continued and not stopped because of my signal, I certainly would have awarded her home if she would have reached it minus the obstruction.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by Manny A

I guess I wasn't clear. It wasn't the obstruction that prevented her from attaining home. It was the fact that she stopped running because she mistook my signal for a foul ball. If she had continued and not stopped because of my signal, I certainly would have awarded her home if she would have reached it minus the obstruction.

The stopping, the mistaking, etc all happened after the obstruction, right?

If you thought she would have achieved home had she run after seeing your signal, then I'm assuming you would have thought she would have achieved home had she run BEFORE seeing it.

Our duty as umpire is to decide, AT THE MOMENT OF OBS, where the runner would have gotten to. All of the stuff that happened after the OBS is irrelevant (not so in all baseball codes ... but you're not talking baseball). At the moment of OBS, would she have achieved home had the OBS not happened. From your description that she could have even if she'd headed home AFTER going the wrong way for a second, I'd say that's a resounding yes.

[bluehair]

Originally Posted by Manny A

The DDB signal has the entire left arm parallel to the ground. I can't even begin to imagine how that is supposed to confuse players and coaches with the standard out mechanic.

The DDB signal is still used in softball. I had a situation earlier this season where, as PU, I saw R2 get obstructed by F5 on a two-out fly ball down the leftfield line. I put out my left hand (while holding my mask) to make the DDB Obstruction call. R2 saw it, and thought I was signalling foul, so she held up and started to go back to second base. The ball was fair, her base coach yelled for her to go home, and she got confused. She ended up going back to third base safely. I didn't award her home, which she might've attained if she would have continued.

If you can't begin to imagine how a not perfect DDB mechanic might be confused with a not perfect out mechanic, then maybe you lack imagination. Here, I'll help you:
1) Pick any of the interference/obstruction threads from this site where a slight variation in the sitch reverses the call, then picture the umpire pointing (I've got something). One team thinks its interference (out) the other team thinks its obstruction and then the umpire raising his left arm/fist...possible confusion.
2) Pick any of the interference/obstruction threads from this site where a slight variation in the sitch reverses the call, then picture the umpire pointing (I've got something). One team thinks its interference (out) the other team thinks its obstruction and then the umpire gets excited and raises the wrong arm raising his right arm/fist...possible confusion...imagine that.

And then you give another example of how a DDB mechanic was confused with a foul mechanic. Even with your description, I can't begin to imagine how that happened.

I'm glad to see the Fed DDB mechanic gone.

[Manny A]

Originally Posted by bluehair

If you can't begin to imagine how a not perfect DDB mechanic might be confused with a not perfect out mechanic...

Oh, well, if you're going to change things up significantly by stating the mechanics are "not perfect", or the umpire gets confused and raises the wrong hand, then everything goes out the window. Using that logic, we could argue that the "flying Safe" that some umpires tend to use looks too much like a Time/Foul mechanic, so we should change the Safe mechanic so that it looks like a self-hug.

If the mechanics are done properly, however, I still don't see how they can be confused. One has the entire left arm completely horizontal. The other has the right arm bent at a 90-degree angle. Shame on the players and coaches that can't figure out the difference. Besides, it's not our job to ensure our properly-executed signals don't confuse players and coaches.

Originally Posted by bluehair

And then you give another example of how a DDB mechanic was confused with a foul mechanic.

And I did that to provide a better example of why someone could argue why FED probably did away with the old DDB mechanic.

My guess, however, as to why FED got rid of it is so that baseball umpires are consistent in all codes.

[Steven Tyler]

Originally Posted by Manny A

The DDB signal has the entire left arm parallel to the ground. I can't even begin to imagine how that is supposed to confuse players and coaches with the standard out mechanic.

The DDB signal is still used in softball. I had a situation earlier this season where, as PU, I saw R2 get obstructed by F5 on a two-out fly ball down the leftfield line. I put out my left hand (while holding my mask) to make the DDB Obstruction call. R2 saw it, and thought I was signalling foul, so she held up and started to go back to second base. The ball was fair, her base coach yelled for her to go home, and she got confused. She ended up going back to third base safely. I didn't award her home, which she might've attained if she would have continued.

Run until you hear the word:FOUL!!!!

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Robmoz

Not sure what the objection is/was to using the DDB signal, its simple, informative, and IMO useful when communicating with your partner.

So is pointing at the obstruction and saying loud enough for your partner to hear, "That's obstruction."

And you don't look stupid doing it.