ASA obstruction

[David Emerling]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

I don't know where you come up with this stuff, but either you have too much time on your hands, or you run into some relatively weak umpires.

Well, actually I was having a debate with a friend who was adamant that the ASA rule on obstruction only required a fielder to block the base path at any time while the runner was between those two bases.

He is not an umpire but he was very certain of this "new rule". As an umpire, I just knew his interpretation of the rule had to be incorrect. But he wouldn't budge.

I even mentioned, "That would mean that a runner trapped in a rundown would just about always be obstructed since, invariably, there is some fielder without possession of the ball somewhere in the baseline." He said, "They can't be in the baseline!"

These examples are ridiculous - I realize - but I needed the expert opinions that exist here for him to be convinced.

I apologize because I have not visited this forum recently and I didn't realize that this was a recent topic of conversation.

Thanks for your answers, nonetheless. You certainly qualify as an "authoritative opinion" in my books!

I didn't want to influence any answers by stating why I was asking them.

David Emerling
Memphis, TN