The Baseball Scorecard

Farm Hand
Posts: 6
Joined: Apr 2004

We were told by two umpires that a runner cannot be charged with interference if, say, a ball is hit to short, runner on second takes off as soon as the ball is hit "establishing the base path" and the fielder and runner collide as the fielder is making a play. They both said that the fielder has to decide to make the play in front or behind the basebath. Sounds like that is a lot of grey area and calls for TOO much judgement on the umpires part. What if the ball is a slow roller and the fielder is charging the same time the runner has "established his running lane"? I thought that if the runner collided with the fielder making a play on the ball it was interference and the runner was out.

Please help. This has not happened to us, but we saw it happen to another team.

Thanks!

Thanks,
Tigers34

hoopdreams_wi

06-03-2004 @ 10:58 AM

All-Star
Posts: 315
Joined: Jun 2003

It sounds like you have some inexperienced umpires. The fielder as long as they are making a play on the ball has the right to their position. Under the interpretation from those umpires, any runner could plow through any fielder that was in their baseline without penalty. I think we all know that's not right. Here's the rule from the book:

7.08: A runner is out when... (b) He intentionally interferes with a thrown ball; or hinders a fielder attempting to make a play on a batted ball; A runner who is adjudged to have hindered a fielder who is attempting to make a play on a batted ball is out whether it was intentional or not.

AtlantaBlue

06-03-2004 @ 3:00 PM

All-Star
Posts: 325
Joined: May 2003

If the fielder is fielding a batted ball, ALL of the responsibility is on the runner to avoid him. If the fielder is fielding the batted ball, and the runner goes behind the fielder and the ball takes a high hop and the fielder backs up to get it, the runner is out.

When fielding a batted ball, the runner must give the fielder ANY space he needs to do so. A runner ON A BASE is safe from interference with a fielder unless he does something intentional. A runner on a base is NOT safe from a batted ball hitting him unless it is an infield fly.

teamtigers

06-04-2004 @ 2:04 PM