ASA umpire obstruction?

oppool · #1 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 14, 2001, 09:57pm

We all know a umpire can cause interfernce my question is can a umpire cause obstruction to a runner and if so what is the call...what if a runner is tag out after making contact with the PU coming into home??

IRISHMAFIA · #2 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 14, 2001, 10:05pm

Bad Move Umpire, but he's keeping the out

Roger Greene · #3 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 14, 2001, 10:18pm

I can only thing of three ways to have umpire inteference.

1 Batted ball hits umpire before passing an infielder or after passing an infielder and another infielder has a play on the ball.

2 A ball lodging in umpire's equipment or uniform.

3 Umpire interfers with catcher's attempt to retire a runner.

Any other contact, wreck, or foul up is just bad luck and a severe ragging for the remainder of the game.

Did I leave anything out?

Roger Greene,
Member UT

Gulf Coast Blue · #4 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 14, 2001, 10:46pm

Roger.....

I can't think of anything other than........that umpire "don't get his coke and hot-dog after the game"!

Joel

Gulf Coast Blue · #5 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 14, 2001, 11:11pm

Position.....Position.....Position......

Telling one on myself here........

First year in umpiring........

In early clinics and field work I was always told to never take my eye off the ball.....and I took those guys seriously.....

Women's FP Game......nobody on with no outs.....I am in "A"..........and a high fly ball is hit to shallow right field......I bust it towards the infield because the catch/no-catch is PU's call.......but "By God" I did not take my eyes off the ball......looking over my right shoulder as I am coming in.....the 19 year old D1 first baseman, who has also not taken her eye off the ball, (she is a good 5'10" 175 lbs.) plows into me and darn near knocks me off my feet.

F9 makes a good catch......F3 asks if I am OK.......

Pretty darned embarrassing..........having a "girl" ask if I was ok after a collision. I am a good 3" taller and 30 lbs heavier........(but more than 20 years older).

I know that most of the umpires here would never make this type of mistake......but there may be some "lurkers" who could learn from my mistake.

Learn when to watch the ball.......and acknowledge that when the ball is over you head and the call is no longer yours......make sure you do not interfere with the players on the field.

Joel

Steve M · #6 (**permalink**) Wed Feb 14, 2001, 11:24pm

ROFLMAO

Some of these college players would have done pretty well in the men's games that I played in.

Joel - food for thought - had F9 misplayed this and the batter-runner gone on to be safe at 2B, would you have been able to answer the appeal that she missed 1B?

IRISHMAFIA · #7 (**permalink**) Thu Feb 15, 2001, 07:12am

Steve,

As you know, the BU is to watch the runner, not the ball. If the weather is nice and they take you outside at the school, this MAY be one of the exercises they run you through. We often use it in our state school. The purpose is to try to convert the student from a spectator to an umpire.

That is one of the hardest things to instill in a new umpire. Forget the ball and do your job, and it drives some of the new guys crazy :-)

Steve M · #8 (**permalink**) Thu Feb 15, 2001, 11:21am

Mike,
You're right, that is a lesson that needs some discipline to learn. I'm always amazed at how frequently I see a runner who missed a base and the defense didn't catch that. When I'm teaching or evaluating, I will often ask if a particular runner missed a certain base when I see that the BU is following the ball or I'll ask if they saw F3's obstruction.

SamNVa · #9 (**permalink**) Fri Feb 16, 2001, 03:37pm

Quote: Roger said:

It is interference by an umpire when a...
1 Batted ball hits umpire before passing an infielder or after passing an infielder and another infielder has a play on the ball.

I thought the last part of the quote only applied to runners and that we umpires were off the hook after the ball passed the first infielder.

I'm pretty sure this is the case in the "OBR" leagues, but what about ASA and FED?

Steve M · #10 (**permalink**) Fri Feb 16, 2001, 04:09pm

Nope, Roger's quote is accurate for both ASA & Fed & NCAA. The wording is a bit different in each book, but the effect is pretty much the same.

Gulf Coast Blue · #11 (**permalink**) Fri Feb 16, 2001, 09:13pm

Learn when to watch the ball.......and acknowledge that when the ball is over you head and the call is no longer yours......make sure you do not interfere with the players on the field.

Steve.........this was a bad situation that I managed to get away with on the bigger diamond of Baseball......but in the tight spaces of the 60' diamond........I learned the hard way! LOL

Joel

We are lucky in having many college players in our area that play womens ball in the summer by the direction of the coaches......we actually get some pretty good crowds for the games......HS and younger aged girls come to watch to see how the experienced ladies play.

Steve M · #12 (**permalink**) Fri Feb 16, 2001, 11:20pm

Joel,
Betcha don't make that one again...
Here's what I try to do while in A - watch the ball just long enough to see that it's not likely to be a trouble ball that I should go out on. Then cut to inside of diamond, if a really fast runner, I may "rim" towards 2B 3-4 strides and then loop into infield behind the runner going into 2B (assuming no play at 2B - if play at 2B, I'll continue to rim & take positon outside for the call). Once I'm inside the diamond, I'll turn & run backwards to where I need to be for a call at 3B. By April/May, I'm conditioned enough that nobody will outrun me - even running bacwards - when I get inside the diamond. Running backwards allows me to watch the runner and glance to see where the ball is. I use my senses to know where F5 & F6 are so I don't get into a wreck. I was once an extremely well-trained martial artist, so my senses are still a bit more active than the average person's are.