Obstruction?

[kanedog]

Saw this on the game tonight. Do you have obstruction in any rule set?

[JaxRolo]

MLB - no HS- yes

[Texas Manny]

No obstruction. Clean play. First baseman was in the act of fielding the ball.

[Larry in TN]

Little League?

 

I don't have my LL rule book handy.  Does it include "and not in the act of fielding the ball" in its definition of Obstruction?

[Texas Manny]

Little League?

 

I don't have my LL rule book handy.  Does it include "and not in the act of fielding the ball" in its definition of Obstruction?

He's in the act of fielding the ball. It's okay. No obstruction. Besides LL baseball you can't leave the base until the ball reaches the batter I believe.

[ricka56]

It's not obstruction, and its not cricket either. This kind of activity is what lead Fed to outlaw this kind of play (though even in Fedlandia, one could judge that R1 was given some access to the base).  

 

If F3 was smart, he'd keep his size 12's out of the way of BRs "touching" 1B. Shall we sharpen the spikes and give F3 SGs?  

[Rich Ives]

 

Little League?

 

I don't have my LL rule book handy.  Does it include "and not in the act of fielding the ball" in its definition of Obstruction?

He's in the act of fielding the ball. It's okay. No obstruction. Besides LL baseball you can't leave the base until the ball reaches the batter I believe.

 

 

It is obstruction in LL.  The "in the act  . . " language was removed in 2005.

[Texas Manny]

 

 

Little League?

 

I don't have my LL rule book handy.  Does it include "and not in the act of fielding the ball" in its definition of Obstruction?

He's in the act of fielding the ball. It's okay. No obstruction. Besides LL baseball you can't leave the base until the ball reaches the batter I believe.

 

 

It is obstruction in LL.  The "in the act  . . " language was removed in 2005.

 

I was going off the quote from above that says: "...not in the act of fielding the ball." That's why I said it isn't obstruction.

[Larry in TN]

He's in the act of fielding the ball. It's okay. No obstruction. Besides LL baseball you can't leave the base until the ball reaches the batter I believe.

 

I don't think that LL has the "in the act of fielding" like OBR does.  As Rich said, it was removed.

 

The leading/stealing depends on division.  Leading and stealing is allowed in Intermediate (50/70), Junior, Senior, and Big League divisions in the 2013 LL rule book.

[mstaylor]

LL,HS and probably NCAA it is obstruction, pro no. NCAA was the first to change because of a F3 in CWS kept laying his leg in front of first and nothing was being called. They then relaxed it after a year but I still think they would have obstruction unless there have been changes I don't know about. I haven't looked at a NCAA book in a while. 

[noumpere]

LL,HS and probably NCAA it is obstruction, pro no. NCAA was the first to change because of a F3 in CWS kept laying his leg in front of first and nothing was being called. They then relaxed it after a year but I still think they would have obstruction unless there have been changes I don't know about. I haven't looked at a NCAA book in a while. 

The "relaxation" was so the "act of fielding" could apply on other than pick off plays.  They didn't change the wording on pickoffs.

 

This would be very hard to see in real time, especially in two-man.

[mstaylor]

 

LL,HS and probably NCAA it is obstruction, pro no. NCAA was the first to change because of a F3 in CWS kept laying his leg in front of first and nothing was being called. They then relaxed it after a year but I still think they would have obstruction unless there have been changes I don't know about. I haven't looked at a NCAA book in a while. 

The "relaxation" was so the "act of fielding" could apply on other than pick off plays.  They didn't change the wording on pickoffs.

 

This would be very hard to see in real time, especially in two-man.

 

I thought so, so obstruction in three code.

[blue23ll]

Obs in Fed, fielder can't block the base without the baseball.

[noumpere]

Obs in Fed, fielder can't block the base without the baseball.

"deny complete access" is the wording, I think.

 

BTW, heres the ncaa wording I refered to above:

 

A.R. 4—On a pickoff play at any base, the defensive player must clearly have possession of

the ball before blocking the base with any part of the defensive player’s body. The umpire

will call “That’s obstruction†and then signal and call “Time.†The ball is dead immediately,

and the runner being played on is awarded one base beyond the last base he had attained

before the obstruction.

[grayhawk]

The "in the act of fielding the ball" clause is to allow the fielder to move into a position necessary to field a throw (even if it's in the runner's path), not to give him carte blanche just because the ball is in the air on the way to him.  Was it necessary for F3 to move his foot in R1's path in order to glove this throw?  In my judgement, no.  An obstruction call could absolutely be justified in OBR (though I can't see it being called very often).

 

This is absolutely obstruction in LL.  The fielder must give access to the entire base.  You see OBS more in LL on back picks where F3 gets in R1's way on the way to the bag.

[Specks]

A good fielder will skirt the edge of OBS to try and get the out. Did anyone notice later when Ian Kinsler was on first and they threw over, he took a step forward, then to the bag to create contact to get the call or to roll F3?

[acpar72]

I talked indirectly to an umpire involved in the very game. He didnt know what I was even referring to when asked about the possible obstruction at first on the pickoff. So...no one talked about it after the game which leads me to believe it was in no way obstruction.  However, I wouldve banged it at NCAA no problem.