ASA Question

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

With two outs, R1 on 3B and R2 on 1B, B5 hits a ball that deflects off of F6's glove. B5 is obstructed rounding 1B and the base umpire signals obstruction. Prior to R2 reaching home plate, B5 is tagged out during a rundown going back to 1B. The plate umpire should:

a) signal that R2's run does not count.
b) hesitate to see if the base umpire enforces obstruction.
c) after play is completed, call "Dead Ball", confer with the base umpire, then rule if R2's run counts.
d) none of the above.

That is really a screwed up question / answers.

If you assume the BU was doing what the situation would require him to do... wait, you can't assume that because of choice b).

I suppose you CAN assume the PU sees the obstruction call, otherwise choices b) and c) make no sense. a) would be the normal call if OBS had not been signalled, so you can't tell from that answer what the PU saw or didn't see other than the tag and the position of R2 at the time of the tag.

Mike, can you find out who wrote this question and send him that fickle finger trophy?

[greymule]

I went back to the 1998 book to find the "halfway" rule of thumb. I didn't realize it disappeared in 2005.

Maybe ASA figured that with multiple runners (and so many one-man games), determining who was more or less than halfway might be too difficult.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by greymule

I went back to the 1998 book to find the "halfway" rule of thumb. I didn't realize it disappeared in 2005.

Maybe ASA figured that with multiple runners (and so many one-man games), determining who was more or less than halfway might be too difficult.

Well, if it is a toss-up, I'm certainly not going to deter the proper advancement of the runners of the offended team because someone doesn't want to keep something simple and informative in a rule book.