Jay R.

The leagues had different offices through the 1990s, though power consolidated slowly in the commissioner's office, culminating the leagues' dissolution as legal entities in late 1999. (That's why the AL was able to adopt the DH, and the NL didn't have to follow suit.) The leagues maintained their own rosters of umpires, too.

Agree with @Velho re the approved LL mechanic. That said, when I was working LL Majors a lot: -- If it was 1st and 3rd, I would usually move into B to have the steal. -- If there was R3 only, especially with two out, I would move to B on the assumption that the play was going to first. But I would be hustling inside the diamond after every pitch to get a good angle on any potential pick at third Both of those were done at the urging of the league UIC, who was pretty active in district and state LL matters, when I voiced concerns similar to the OP. He taught the approved mechanic to everyone, but once you had his trust that you were hustling and had a good reason he encouraged us to do other things that made sense and made us more comfortable.

Is there an OBR, NCAA, or LL analog to this, either by rule or interp?

@Lou B is correct. Relevant rule is 5.12(b)(3)(A): "If an accident to a runner is such as to prevent him from proceeding to a base to which he is entitled, as on a home run hit out of the playing field, or an award of one or more bases, a substitute runner shall be permitted to complete the play."

Here's video of umpires using shoe polish to decide whether a player gets first. In this case, it's Cleon Jones of the Mets; the announcers reference the similar play involving Nippy Jones in 1957. More prosaically, umpires often take batter reaction into account on close pitches---including, for example whether a ball hit the bat handle or a batter's hands. Having just gotten behind the plate again after taking a few years to focus on coaching my kids, I find that it's actually often *harder* to tell hit by pitch with younger players. Batters aren't set in the box, the pitches aren't as fast so batters can move more in reaction (but are less skilled in actually avoiding the pitch), slow pitches change direction less dramatically if they glance something, catchers stand up or otherwise move to block your view...

Earlier this summer someone asked if there was a rule against blatant/intentional missing of the bases.

I should have specified league rules on stealing: The local league allows advancing to second and third after the ball is past the batter. The penalty for leaving early is one team warning and then the runner is out.

I umpired through a Little League chapter in Northern VA, doing games on fields of all sizes but focusing on the 60' mechanics. Having moved and now that my own kids are playing, I've primarily switched to coaching, though I umpire occasionally. In my son's U10 game last night in an independent league that roughly follows the PONY rulebook, I noticed that on a 60' diamond that the field umpire would be stationed pre-pitch behind the mound with runners on. This was not a traditional B or C; on the other hand, on such a small field he would have been blocking F4 or F6 had he taken a normal B or C position. I know LL has umpires stationed on the outfield grass in B or C on a 60' diamond. Is there any association or guidance that encourages umpire placement inside the diamond on a 60' field? Genuinely curious---but also the field umpire was not catching anyone on either team leaving early.

A bit earlier than you were looking, but "Haney's Base Ball Book" from 1867 includes rules and instructions to the umpires. This edition is from 2004 and reasonably priced: https://www.amazon.com/Haneys-Reference-Henry-Chadwick-2004-10-01/dp/B01FIWYYO2

It took about five years of doing a lot of LL games for this to show up for me, but it did. I called it in normal league play; a runner from second was taking a HUUGE lead every pitch and I warned the coach (verbally once, and I actually used the flag that LL recommends). A dribbler that advanced everyone without a play and I had to wipe it off the board. Both scorekeepers were confused about how to score that in their apps.

Yes, Dana DeMuth signaled safe before signaling either "Time" or "Obstruction". Video here:

It depends on the situation for me. From 2013-17 I worked in one organization and I appreciated it that coaches learned and used my name. I always made a point to introduce myself before the game, usually at the plate conference. There was one coach who used "Mr. Umpire," and others used "Blue" in a respectful tone, which was fine with me, but names were preferred. In 2018 I moved and my kids started playing, so my umpiring became more sporadic and scattered as I focused on coaching. While it would be nice if at least head coaches could match my ability to use first names, I don't mind if they use "Blue" respectfully. This thread brings to mind a story from last fall umpiring softball: There was an assistant coach who kept referring to his team by their color, blue. Given the age of the players (U10) I didn't say anything. At one point later in the game I called one of his batters out on strikes and then called a strike on the first pitch to the next batter. He (coaching first) yelled, "Come on, Blue!" My head swung toward him and he's looking at his dugout, urging them to swing. It was obvious he didn't realize what he was doing. At that inning break his head coach explained what he did and he apologized profusely. Another assistant (an obvious baseball/softball lifer) said he expected me to eject him.

The section in OBR on retired runners does also apply to scored runners (6.01(a)(5)). The comment there clarifies that "continuing to advance" "shall not by that act alone be considered as confusing, hindering or impeding the fielders". If a scored runner is advancing from the plate to the dugout and is struck by a wildly off the mark throw, as in the OP, there's no way I have unintentional interference.

You should either have this as no interference and nothing---which I'm inclined to agree with based on the original post---or interference and an out. There's either intent or not. Rule 5.09(b)(3): "[Any runner is out when] He intentionally interferes with a thrown ball; or hinders a fielder attempting to make a play on a batted ball" You either rule that he has intent, or don't. If a scored runner interferes, call out a runner if there's a play being made (6.01(a)(5)). If no play is being made (as in your scenario, presumably), call out the runner closest to the plate.

At the risk of further deviating from the main thread: Having cut my teeth as an umpire in LL before umping in other leagues and coaching in non-LL baseball, there's a lot that LL umpires have to do as representatives of the LL chapter and thus LLI that umpires in other leagues don't. Some of that would certainly be officious officiating in other situations (no adults warming up pitchers, other safety rules in warmups), but I was expressly told by my LL umpire coordinators as well as other league officials to enforce that little stuff for insurance purposes, since LL sees the umpire (or the adult game coordinator, if the umpire is a minor) as the league official as well as the on-field official.

I did LL baseball, 7-17, for five seasons full time and a couple more part-time, easing back as I focused on coaching my own kids. (I also moved in 2018 from a jurisdiction that paid umpires very well for LL to an area where youth umpires don't make much at all.) Last year, I moved houses and realized that the small field basically in my new backyard hosts girls' rec softball all year. I figured out who the assignor was and introduced myself, looking to pick up a few games within easy walking distance. I got a few last fall, maybe 8 or 10 games at the U10, U12, and U15 levels. Like you, I was terribly nervous about stuff like the lookback rule and other softball-specific stuff. The local league uses the NSA rulebook and I noticed "blocked balls" as a thing. Small sample size, but: -- None of the softball-specific rules came up. Maybe it was because it was fall ball, but no one was pushing the envelope on the running game. -- Introduce yourself as an experienced umpire who's new to softball (or the code or age level, or however you want to proceed) and you get a lot of grace to discuss things like D3K or no, IFF or no, etc., at the plate meeting. -- The stuff that wins over baseball coaches also wins over softball coaches. Hustle into position and have a consistent strike zone and experienced coaches will notice. They might even say so! -- My only semi-ugly incident was when a base coach in U10 basically pushed a runner to advance and I called her out for the coach's actions. But that's not softball-specific!

The rabbit or the ball?

Agreed with @maven above. Little League does follow the usual pattern of who's out.

You'd had it as "He is a retired/scored runner: the ball is dead, the run counts, R3 is ejected, and other runners return to their TOI bases" in your comment this morning. (Genuinely not trying to catch you in a mistake, just trying to learn Fed)

But this was a force play at home (From the OP: "Bases loaded. Grounder to first and F3 throws home.") Do we then unscore the run? Or is the ruling that because the runner touched the base an instant before contact it is no longer a "force play"?

The first play is not a balk. A throw from the rubber must be to an occupied base, or an attempt to make a play on a runner stealing. From OBR Rule 6.03(a)(4): "[If there is a runner, or runners, it is a balk when:] The pitcher, while touching his plate, throws, or feints a throw to an unoccupied base, except for the purpose of making a play;"

There was talk about it favoring the Astros and being halfway to WWE. The guest here may not have been the poster on Facebook (and there were several people commenting on the thread; the OP there may not have been the one saying that it was fixed).

So did you delete the thread on Facebook, or did someone else? Cause whoever deleted it didn't admit they were wrong about insulting the game and integrity of the umpires

Image quality is pretty bad because the video is a cell phone video of a tv, but the white streak in red is the ball

It was a foul ball. You can see the ball go to the first base side and the umpire hand the catcher a new ball.