Rule Question - Runner Interference

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I saw a strange play in a baseball game last night - just wondering if the umpire called it correctly. Runner on first, no outs. The batter hits a pop-up down the first base line, obviously foul. The first baseman drifts to the ball but is run into by the runner on first. The second baseman makes the catch.

After the play, the base umpire calls runner interference (or obstruction, I can never keep it straight). He calls the runner out and places the batter on first. I know that this would be a correct call if the ball were fair, but the ball was foul. Did he get it right?

The strange thing is that the batter will get credit for a base hit on a foul ball.

 

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This one causes some confusion because it is handled differently under different rule sets.

For high school baseball, if a runner interfers with a fielder on a fly ball over foul ground, it is the batter who is out. If, in the umpire's judgment, the interference prevented a double play (ie: a catch was going to be made and a runner was off and running), then the runner that interfered can also be called out. Otherwise, the ball is dead and any runners return to their bases.

In high school softball, on this same play the runner is out and the batter is credited with a foul ball. There is also the same stipulation about calling two outs if the interference prevented a double play.

Switching back to baseball, under Major League rules this is actually called the same as it is in high school softball- not baseball!

ASA softball has their own ruling. If the interference prevented a routine catch, both the batter and runner are called out. If it did not, then only the runner is out and the batter is credited with a foul ball.

Why so many different rulings? All baseball and softball has the basic premise that if a runner interfers with a fielder fielding the ball the runner is out and the batter is awarded first. When the batted ball is over foul ground, this creates an obvious problem- just like pointed out in the first post. If the batter is awarded first base, the offense can, in effect, benefit by committing a violation of the rules.

It seems that each organization has come up with their own way of correcting this glitch in the rules. But one thing they all have in common- on a ball hit over foul ground, none of them award the batter first base on a runner interference call. Either the runner is out, the batter is out or the batter is credited with a foul ball.

(By the way, interference is always an infraction committed by the offense, obstruction is always committed by the defensive team.)

 

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Thanks, that clears it up ...I think.

If this were HS softball, the runner would be called out and a foul ball credited to the hitter. But in this case the ball was successfully caught. Is the batter also out or is the interference an immediate dead ball, thus a foul ball on the batter.

 

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Immediate dead ball at the moment of interference, so the "catch" effectively does not happen.