ASA Rules non-changes - obstruction

[Dakota]

From Spysoftball...

Although otherwise concerned about safety, the Committee rejected a proposal which would seemingly have clarified current rules, deleting the language about to receive a thrown ball and substituting which defines obstruction as when a fielder not in possession of the ball or not in the act of fielding a batted ball, impedes the progress of a runner or batter-runner that is legally running the bases. The Committee also rejected a proposal which would have ejected runners who cause stand-up collisions.

This leaves the current rule intact. Too bad, IMO. The ol' "about to receive" rule is confusing to many, and for most practical purposes, the same as "has possession" the way ASA defines "about to receive."

The other aspect, which I didn't pick up on before, is apparently the ASA was considering changing the penalty for the the offensive player in a stand-up collision / obstruction situation. What was this? Taking away the "flagrant" requirement? Hmmm... with JO ball, I'd be for increasing the penalty for blocking when a stand up collision occurs, since that is far more common than intentionally taking out players.

[Edited by Dakota on Nov 15th, 2002 at 10:25 AM]