Obstruction vs Interference

[JFA67]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

Not bad, not complete, but a good place to start. My only problem is the emphasis of "get the fielders out of the way". Did s/he give you any suggestions on how to effect this move?

I will not tell a player where to stand, but I will let them know of the repercussions should they cause obstruction. I would be afraid an over-zealous umpire may take such a statement to heart and begin holding up play and moving fielders, or get a little over-officious in ruling OBS before it actually occurs.

It's hard enough getting coaches to understand that a runner stopping 60' away because a player happens to be what she perceives is in her way is not OBS without having umpires go out there and actually making such a rulling.

From what I remember, the note was in reference to defensive players blocking bases while waiting for a throw. The jist was to warn the players and their coaches that defensive players w/o the ball should not to be in the basepath. We had some trouble around the area with umpires not wanting to call the obstruction. I should have left that part out of the rules of thumb post. After calling OBS, when I have a coach say "where are they supposed to be?", I answer "not there w/o posession of the ball"