Obstruction question

[Andy]

[rant]

Obstruction is my pet peeve as an umpire.

I can watch a softball game and see about 5 different instances where obstruction should be called and isn't.

What is it about this rule that makes some umpires try so hard to find reasons not to call obstruction? I thought by taking the "about to receive" clause out several years ago that it would make it much more black and white than to have that shade of grey with "about to receive".

It's not that hard! The baserunners have the right of way while running the bases, if a defender does not have the ball or is not fielding a batted ball, they need to be out of the way!

[/rant]

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by Andy

[rant]

Obstruction is my pet peeve as an umpire.

I can watch a softball game and see about 5 different instances where obstruction should be called and isn't.
[/rant]

Funny, I find it the other way around and it's my pet peeve as well. I can umpire a softball game and call obstruction 10-12 times, and never have a coach tell their fielder to cut it out ... even sometimes in cases where a base is awarded or an apparent out nullified. Drives me nuts.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

Funny, I find it the other way around and it's my pet peeve as well. I can umpire a softball game and call obstruction 10-12 times, and never have a coach tell their fielder to cut it out ... even sometimes in cases where a base is awarded or an apparent out nullified. Drives me nuts.

Once had a partner got tired of calling OBS on F3 because she stood on the inside corner of 1B on every ground ball, even to the outfield. After the 4th time, he walked over to the coach in the dugout and told him what she was doing, that she had to stop doing it for her safety and that of the runners.

He called it again, told the coach if it happened again, he would need a substitute. Two batters and a single to left field later, the umpire walked F3 to the dugout and told the coach he needed a sub.