Winner!

If you were the baseball-only LL guy I last worked with about 5 years ago you would have dropped a red flag in a softball game, then said, "Seth, she left early!" while pointing at it. Otherwise, the correct call is no pitch and an out.

I think LLBB keeps its rule the way it is to keep from becoming too different from "real" baseball.

Hehe...let me guess "OK then, she's out!"

Could be...but oddly enough, PONY league seems to have figured this one out without all the red flag silliness.

I think I verbalize it more than I don't.

Of course, I have been working a very low level rec league the past few weeks and if I verbalized obstruction every time it happened, that's about all that I would be saying out there!

Yes, we got that taken care of. I should have got together with him, told him the rule, and finished with "Fix it!" :D


I don't really like the red flag either, and not just because I have to remember which pocket in my equipment bag I keep it in.

I think a few years ago, the question became:

"Is the Pope Polish?"

(now it's back to the original ...;)

Obs
 

The problem is most umpires are not calling it correctly. There is so much variance by crew that you can not even prepare for such things. Slow mo on TV is not an option when making the call.:confused:

All crews, or just the ones you see?

I'd say most ASA and NFHS umpires have a good idea of what obstruction is.

Obs
 

I have always verbalized and pointed. I did a game last Saturday and my partner who came out from behind the plate and he heard me say it. I said he thought I was too picky on my call. I informed him by what judgement I went by and he agreed with me. :D

When I see OBS, I state OBS in a normal tone and give the visual DDB signal to let the runner know that I have observed the violation. The award is made after the play, if necessary. When I see INT, I give an immediate strong verbal dead ball call and provide the visual dead ball signal as well.