Obstruction at first base

[DG]

Originally Posted by todd.dicken

The game is played under OBR. In my observation of the play, the fielder was moving to catch the ball. Therefore I called the kid out, simple as that. Is their a more defined rule whether it has to be fielded from the bat vs caught from another player? I appreciate the advice Bob! Like I said, I'm new to this and I am only looking to further my knowledge of the rules.

Here is another one for you...Same game, so the coach is already fired up from the previous dispute. Im at position "A" and the batter hits a ROUTINE fly ball to center. I proceed to run into the infield and turn to watch the runner touch first. The next thing I hear is no catch from the other umpire. Apparently the kid in center momentarily had the ball in his glove, but never maintained possession. The coach then calls time and runs out yelling at me saying "You gotta make that call Blue!" and "that was your call to make!" I cant say the my training was sufficient, but I feel I made the correct decision by running in and leaving the catch/no catch up to my partner. I find that right now my biggest problem is deciding how to deal with coaches. I wanted really bad to tell him off, but feel I may have been too passive. Once again, thanks for any input.

You made the correct decision. Umpire in A never has the CF catch on routine fly ball. Your job is to make sure batter touches 1b. Coaches can ask for time, umpire has to grant it. If he runs out on the field truly yelling at me, I let him get right up to me and then toss him without any explanation. The word will get around amongst the parents and other coaches that you don't run out on the field yelling at umpires.

I don't think I have ever seen obstruction called on 1st baseman trying to catch a throw at 1b. And if he catches it and tags the runner before he reaches 1b, I get an out every time. I have seen a number of train wrecks at 1b.