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Many moons ago, one of the the more thoughtful and experienced members of this community, @JonnyCat, offered the group some insight that I have fallen back on many times. This play reminds me of that sage advice: Use the rules book to solve problems rather than create them. By rule, R2 is protected to 3B. Any further award is judgment. As many might agree, perspective affects judgment in almost every case. When in doubt, however those words from the past come rushing forward to provide clarity. The rules allow us to judge R2 to be out at HP because he was only entitled to 3B. While that is the letter of the rule, it also provides for judgment to grant further awards. A call of out and declining to award home is certainly supported by rule, however, that may cause more problems than it solves. BU does not strike me as the strongest umpire either. His lackadaisical pre-pitch posture, lack of an obstruction call, inattention to keeping his chest to the ball, and failure to keep his head on a swivel particularly when F2 is throwing a back pick to 2B all suggest that he may not even have considered, let alone call, obstruction on R2. This video would be great resource to use in an intermediate training class for the 2 man system. There is a lot to be learned here!

Travel game, 12 or 13 year old's, field with no fence. Batter crushes one to right field which of course gets past F9. B/R is rounding 1st when F3 obstructs him (in the way, makes the runner veer around... you know the kind) so I point/call the OBS. Since EVRYONE is watching F9 run after the ball, I kept pointing to the infraction well until the B/R was almost to 3rd. He rounds and is going for home when a great throw and a relay get the ball to F2 for an absolute banger of a play. Partner does his thing and bangs the out. I come up big: TIME TIME TIME. THAT is obstruction, pointing to 1st base. Partner and I awarded home. Could we have just protected him to 2nd? Of course... but the point of the rule is to remove the act of obstruction, not reward the offense for their infraction.

so a wv gold for 1/2 price. seems like a great entry point, especially for guys looking for something that can take them from LL to MLBU.

Got the CP. It’s basically a knock off WV gold. Padding is the same and everything. Not a fan. Gonna get rid of it. I’m accepted offers lol

I understand the logic if R2 stopped at third and you had to decide whether to award home -- in your judgement / viewing he would not have reached home. We are allowed to consider post obstruction evidence to help with the decision -- and in the OP we have it.

come on BT-Blue--Big 10 D1 (conference ranked, RPI 11, out of 31 d1 conferences), so i know they will not see you, for one of your personal d1 conference games (there's the cheapshot, if you do not work d1 out there) even when they go west, or so it says from googling. hey maybe postseason by 2050 if you are still working.

You seriously need to reconsider your thought process…you are saying you need to be convinced with 100% certainty that he should be awarded home…what you need to be convinced is with 100% certainty he would have been out no matter what. You can’t think about well the throw would have been this or that.. he was obstructed by defense and you want to reward them with an out on a close play? He needs to be out by a LOT to not award him home. You’re giving the benefit of the doubt to the defense here, “well I think he would have still been out” when their violation should be “well he may have been safe so he is safe”. unless you are 99% certain he would be out even without Obs, you award him home, otherwise you may as well wear a sign around your neck at your next game that says “you may as well obstruct every runner bc most of the time you’re going to get away with it”

#1 thing I recommend is the All-Start Cobalt skull cap. Dollar for dollar it's my favorite purchase. Next I'd recommend the All-Star mag pads (even if you have a steel mask - I do, and love the pads with them).

I'm not piling on, I admire someone who is willing to stick to their understanding of the rules and not be swayed... but, there was a wrong committed by the defense that should be awarded to the offense. You say you would protect him to 3B, but the runner made it to 3B regardless, so you haven't awarded anything yet and you haven't punished the defense for their infraction either. Yes, the runner chose to go home or was sent home by their coach; however, the bang-bang play at the plate was only possible because he was slowed down by F6. In spite of an offline and low relay throw from F5 (because he had to rush it or he would not have had any chance at all), F2 slaps the tag down for a very close play at the plate and PU calls our runner out on a play that could have truly went either way even if there was no OBS by F6 ---- but, OBS did occur (we all agree it did, there is just some differing of opinion on how to award it) and now we need to penalize the defense for their infraction. If the play was that close at the plate and he's out by a hair due to an amazing relay, catch & tag by F2 at the plate - then do you honestly believe that if R2 was allowed a half-step or two more (it's more likely he would have covered much more distance than a few feet) that he would not have scored had he not been bumped by F6? Something else to think about, how many guys at this level would not score on a hit to LF given a running start/lead off from 2B? There's a reason it's called scoring position once you reach 2nd base. If a ball leaves the infield in MLB, HS, Babe Ruth, LL, etc. - how many times does an average runner not score from 2B barring OBS? I can tell you they will score far more often than not barring a very good LF who made a very good read on the ball and a strong & accurate relay. In my personal experience, I'd guess 75-80% of average HS runners would score on this play without any OBS, so I'd have to believe that OBS on this particular play would have resulted in a run scored as well if F6 hadn't gotten in his way. If you truly believe that he's only covered to 3B and he was only out because he pushed it and tried to score, then there's nothing more I can say.

You might be an umpire if you see some sort of argument going on anywhere (Costco parking lot, Starbucks, etc) then throw up your hands and yell "TIME!" I did that once in a bar, where two patrons were about to throw down. So startingly it was that everyone stopped and revaluated the dumb situation (including myself).

Well, they are wearing navy, so.....

Why does my neck hurt now? (and thanks for the great review and pics)