FED Obstruction With a Lost Partner

[tankmjg24]

In my game last night I had a text book obstruction call situation, but only problem is it was not my call, but my partners which he did not see.  FED rules with R2.  I am the plate umpire and partner is in C position.  Ball is hit into into center field and R2 attemtps to score.  F8 makes the throw to F2, but it is high and goes over the head of F2.  As I am turning my head towards home to watch R2 touch the plate, I see the BR making a turn at 2nd to go to 3rd.  As he does, he has to avoid F6 who is in his way.  My partner is looking at the ball which is behind home and sees none of this.  F2 throws to F5 and BR is out by a good 10 feet so he gets into a run down eventually being thrown out going back into second.  I go out and ask partner if he saw the contact by R2 and F6 and he says no.  At this point I call the obstruction and award BR 3rd.  I will spare you the conversation I had with the coach, but a big part he kept complaining about was that this was not my call but my partners.  My response was simply coach any umpire can call it if they see it.  Eventually I got him in the dugout and the game continued. 

 

Had my partner been looking right at it I would not have said a thing.  He was not though and stated that he was watching the ball which was behind home. 

 

Thoughts?

 

 

[scrounge]

Anyone can call obstruction - you might have to sell it a little more, but if you see it, call it. Probably would have gone over better if called during/right after the play vs. after a conference.

 

As someone told me in basketball but it applies here - I don't mind if you fish in my pond, as long as you catch a big fish

[maven]

In general, we don't entertain mechanics critiques from coaches.

 

"Coach, are you claiming that your fielder did NOT obstruct the runner?" Um, no.

 

"Then it doesn't matter who calls it, does it?"

[Minnz]

I think you were right to call like.  Like it was said before, if you for sure have it call it without a conference to your partner.  That way you sell it right away and they see you decided at the time.  With the new FED mechanics you call OB right away loudly.  Let the know.

 

Good catch and way to keep all eyes on the field.  Not easy in 2 man.

[JaxRolo]

Call it aggressively !!!

[Pete Peterson Sr]

In my game last night I had a text book obstruction call situation, but only problem is it was not my call, but my partners which he did not see.  FED rules with R2.  I am the plate umpire and partner is in C position.  Ball is hit into into center field and R2 attemtps to score.  F8 makes the throw to F2, but it is high and goes over the head of F2.  As I am turning my head towards home to watch R2 touch the plate, I see the BR making a turn at 2nd to go to 3rd.  As he does, he has to avoid F6 who is in his way.  My partner is looking at the ball which is behind home and sees none of this.  F2 throws to F5 and BR is out by a good 10 feet so he gets into a run down eventually being thrown out going back into second.  I go out and ask partner if he saw the contact by R2 and F6 and he says no.  At this point I call the obstruction and award BR 3rd.  I will spare you the conversation I had with the coach, but a big part he kept complaining about was that this was not my call but my partners.  My response was simply coach any umpire can call it if they see it.  Eventually I got him in the dugout and the game continued. 

 

Had my partner been looking right at it I would not have said a thing.  He was not though and stated that he was watching the ball which was behind home. 

 

Thoughts?

 

 In your post-game, assuming you had one, of course, did you ask your partner why he was watching a ball for which you had responsibility ? If he is a younger umpire, you could have turned this into a learning experience. Hell, for that matter, it could have been a learning experience for a guy with one year of experience, ten times over.

[tankmjg24]

Thanks for the responses.

 

Regarding a conference, I had started to make my way up to 3rd to cover the possible play at 3rd as a run down had ensued.  Instead of just going back to home, I made my way around the mound and cut my partner off on his way back to A position and asked him if he saw what had happened.  When he said no he was watching the ball I then called the obstruction.  Probably took 5-10 seconds in all.  My main worry was that he had somehow saw it and did not thing obstruction had occurred and then I go fishing into his territory. 

 

We did have a postgame.  Made some progress, but not a lot.  My suggestion to him was to watch the runner going around the bases as that is his responsibility and maybe glance to see where the ball is if need be.  His response was how in the world is he to know if a play was going to happen without seeing where the ball was.  Like I told him, if he had been with the runner like he was supposed to have been he would have easily seen the OBS call and made life easier on the both of us. 

[maven]

My main worry was that he had somehow saw it and did not thing obstruction had occurred and then I go fishing into his territory. 

 

This should not have been an issue. When you saw the OBS, you pointed and verbalized, "That's obstruction!" right? You can't (or shouldn't) unring that bell because partner didn't think it was OBS.

 

And anyway, it's not "his pond": any umpire who sees OBS or INT should rule on it. Although umpires are assigned responsibility for touches and tags, runner-fielder contact near the bases is a crew responsibility.

 

If the crew caught an infraction that other crews might have missed, then that's a win for you guys. I'm not sure I would have tried to "fix" anything in the postgame, unless partner asked me how he might have seen it.

 

It sounds to me as if you gave the coach's opinion more weight than it was worth and felt that there was more of a problem here than there was.