I received this question from a fellow umpire today, about a play that occurred yesterday in a large men's SP tournament:

<b>Runner on 1B, no outs. Ground ball hit to first baseman, who steps on 1B to retire the BR, and then throws to 2B in an attempt to get the runner from 1B.

Runner waves his hands over his head as he is running. No contact with the throw. Second baseman moves a step to the side to catch the ball. They do not get the out.

Is the runner going to 2B safe or out?</b>

I responded that unless the waving of the arms interfered with a fielder in any way, such as by blocking the fielder's vision, there was no call to be made. Simply waving the arms was not enough to constitute interference. Attempt to interfere is not enough; there has to be actual interference.

I also responded that the closer the runner got to the fielder when the fielder was attempting to make the play, the greater the chance the action could be considered interference, so in that way it's a HTBT play.

I also considered whether the ump would be justified in calling the runner out for USC, or whether that should be reserved for deliberate crashes.

Was I right or wrong, or does anyone have anything to add?

Incidentally, the umpires conferred and then called the runner out. The play occurred in the 7th inning, and the arm-waver's team lost 6-4.

[Edited by greymule on Aug 15th, 2005 at 05:50 PM]

My "flippant" answer would be:

Any way you can get an out in slow pitch, get it.
:)

The real answer, IMHO: Probably not, but definitely HTBT.

And "flippant" you can be... ;)

Why "in slow pitch"?

Quote:

The real answer, IMHO: Probably not, but definitely HTBT.

Speaking ASA

The proper call would be interference. Immediate dead ball, runner is out.

Sorry, but this is a no brainer. There is absolutely NOTHING this runner can be doing by waving his arms over his head except making an attempt to interfere with the play.

Citations:
Rule 1-Interference
Rule 8.7.J.4
POE #33

Greymule,

The second the runner put his arms up and waved them you got interference, there does not need to be actual interference / contact. He was attempting to block the throw and / or keep the second baseman from catching the throw. It does not matter how far from second he was at the time. Ring him up. It is not up to us as umpires to decide if he actual blocked the first or second basemans vision. It was his intent that we as umpire are looking at in make the call. Again I say ring him up! IMHO

Rabbit

"Large men's SP tournament"?
Are these guys that shop only at the "Big and Tall" clothing store?

Seriously: Interference - dead ball - runner going to second is out and of course out at 1st stands.
Sam

<b>"Large men's SP tournament"? Are these guys that shop only at the "Big and Tall" clothing store?</b>

That's good, U of M Sam. I like it.

Technically, that would be "large-men's SP tournament," with the hyphen, but I appreciate the humor. Actually, some of the guys in the division I was doing were quite large. In fact, many of the players would not have passed baseball's steroid test, I'm sure.

So a blatant attempt to interfere is to be considered actual interference. I like that, too.

Pretty much automatic.... hes probaly wasnt waving to his girlfriend (or boyfriend) in the stands. Dead ball..and ya have another out.

Greymule:
I am glad you appreciate the humor.
Thank you,
Sam