Pickoff at 1st-OBS

[refump10]

Top 7th, R1 no outs, I'm BU in B.  Pickoff attempt at 1st, bad throw from F1 results in F3 diving for the throw and ending up on top of R1 who had dived back to the bag.  Ball goes to the fence.  Both players get untangled quickly, and I don't see any real OBS. I judged that F3 got up before R1 realized the throw was to the fence and started to get up.  R1 did end up at 2B without a play. 

 

After the play settles, the first base coach is looking at me with his arms in the air, obviously wanting me to call OBS.  I nipped in the bud with "that's nothing, the contact had no bearing on the play." 

 

After thinking about it though, I'm beginning to have second thoughts. I went through the rule & case books last night, but didn't really see any answers that satisfied me. I also searched this site to look at other sitch's that have been posted.  I guess my question is that should I have had obstruction because F3 landed on top of R1, regardless of my judgment that it had no bearing?  Or do we still just have to umpire?  FED's OBS interpretations are a bit screwy.  Just thought I'd throw this one out there for discussion. 

[maven]

It's possible to rule OBS on such a play in a FED game (and difficult to tell without video what I would rule), but the outcome would have been the same as what in fact happened.

 

That makes this more of a game management issue: tell coach, "if I rule OBS, he gets 2B, which is where he got on his own. No difference at all. Now let's play ball."

 

One other thing: if you rule no OBS at the time, you should signal "safe" and verbalize "That's nothing!" Sometimes that keeps coach in the dugout, since he already knows what you ruled.

[refump10]

I did exactly what you said: I signaled "safe" and verbalized "that's nothing", when I read the ball going all the way to the fence (a lot of foul territory at this field) and saw F3 untangle very quickly.  Obviously, if he had hesitated for a fraction of a second, I would have called the OBS.  I just thought about it on the drive home, and thought about the Sh%#storm that could have followed if R1 would have tried to stretch it to third and been out on a wacker.  It would have been hard to come back and get the OBS at that point.

[maven]

I did exactly what you said: I signaled "safe" and verbalized "that's nothing", when I read the ball going all the way to the fence (a lot of foul territory at this field) and saw F3 untangle very quickly.  Obviously, if he had hesitated for a fraction of a second, I would have called the OBS.  I just thought about it on the drive home, and thought about the Sh%#storm that could have followed if R1 would have tried to stretch it to third and been out on a wacker.  It would have been hard to come back and get the OBS at that point.

 

Not hard at all. If it's OBS, you announce that and allow play to continue. You probably protect R1 to 2B. If he's thrown out at a base beyond where you protect him, the out stands.

[JaxRolo]

Always call obs on this!!!