Ohio High School State Title Game - OBS Call

[teebob21]

Originally Posted by BretMan

Maybe it's the camera angle.

Yeah, wide angle/fisheye lenses drastically distort distance. I thought the same thing about the plate stance (looked pretty square on the video), but decided not to comment.

One of them seemed to be taking what I've heard referred to in baseball as "post obstruction evidence" into account, instead of determining a base award at the moment the obstruction happened.

Luckily it doesn't happen often, but I'm very torn on this topic. When we call OBS, we're supposed to decide what will happen assuming the event we just called OBS on didn't happen. That's a tough decision AT THAT MOMENT, even for a confirmed psychic. That said, I award bases the way the rule says....where do I think the runner would have gotten absent the OBS. I won't lie, the results of the primary play/throw (NOT the plays & throws that follow) definitely help me arrive at that decision. Example from this high school season: BR hits a ground ball to RF. Before reaching 1B, BR is obstructed by F3. (I judged this as "the primary play". Absent the obstruction, BR would have reached 1B.) F9 airmails the throw to the infield, and BR advances to 2B before retreating to 1B. An infielder retrieves the ball from the errant throw, and tosses it to F3, where our BR is put out between 1B and 2B. I rule an OUT.