OBS follow-up

[SC Ump]

Good input. Thanks to all.

I'll be honest that in both cases I would not have called obstruction. (#1 was made up, #2 was a real play and I called nothing. The runner slowed down after the contact with F4 and was thrown out by a couple of steps at third.)

If obstruction is to impeded the progress of a runner running the bases, it just seems to me that, no, that fielder didn't impede them, their impediment was their lack of sense to run the bases in the most direct manner. I don't believe I should require a fielder to make unreasonable assumptions when trying to figure out where the runner is going to try and run.

I'm not sure what I will do in the future. I just have a hard time protecting base runners from being stupid. Perhaps I'm allowing my libertarian views to enter into the ball game.