Runner interference rule

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OK, I thought I knew this one but was talking about it with some fellow coaches this past weekend and now I'm not sure. Runner on 1st ... ball hit toward second baseman ... runner is less than a foot in front of the second baseman, and jumps over the hit ball, which hits the second baseman's glove and rolls away, and everyone is safe. Nothing intentional on the part of the runner, just the way it worked out. Rulebook says something about runner "not hindering" the fielder's opportunity to make a play on the ball. Does there have to be contact made for interference to be called or not?

 

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Does not have to be contact.....

 

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Just has to, "in the judgment of the umpire" interfere with the defender.

 

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What they said. Now ask me what the call usually is. We had one recently where the umpire gave us two reasons, both wrong, for not calling interference: 1) there was no contact (there was and contact isn't a requirement) and 2) the second baseman made the play on the batter-runner. Um, on the second point, the second baseman didn't have a play on the lead runner, who after the ruling was standing on 2nd base, because of that runner's interference.

 

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Seen at the 16U ASA States in Findlay. The batter popped one up, put her head down, ran for first. Her head was down so she didn't see the fielder. There was a collision. Ump called her out. Shortly after the coach for the team on the field goes to ump and says it was intentional. Call changed to runner ejected. It happened to be the pitcher. Don't ya hate when ump's get talked into a call?

 

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similar call today...umps shouldnt make themselves a visible part of the game.......good part is that i heard ours apologized for the wrong call after the game...wasnt an ejection just an out....

 

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ASA spells this out nicely in their rules. The definition of "interference" under Rule 1 flat out states that "contact is not necessary". It can't be any more plain than that!

Think about this...if contact was necessary, then while the fielder is fielding the ball the runner could legally stand right in front of her and wave her arms around, or get right next to her ear and scream at the top of her lungs, "Miss it!".

Sorry...ain't gonna happen...at least not without an out being called...

When you have a runner crossing in front of fielder who is fielding the ball, it can play out several different ways. Generally, a runner has the right to advance directly to the next base. However, she is also obligated to not impede the fielder's play on the ball. Simply passing in front of the fielder, or jumping over the ball, are not illegal actions.

But, what if...

- The runner does something other than "simply advance to the next base? Say, she purposely slows down and times it so that she is in front of the fielder to screen her out just as the ball arrives, or stops right in front of the fielder and "dances around" to make it look like she's trying to dodge the ball. In other words, she makes some action other than advancing to the next base that seems designed to "hinder/impede/confuse" the fielder.

Now, an interference call becomes viable.

- Suppose that the fielder is stationary, waiting for the ball to come to her, but the runner just happens to run in front of her. This most likely is not interference.

- Switch it around so that the fielder is charging the ball, but has to check up or abandon her play on the ball because the runner is in her way. This can be ruled as interference.

- One more...if the fielder runs so close to the fielder that it impedes her, this can be interference. The runner is obligated to give the fielder some room and does have the option of leaving the baseline to avoid the fielder.

You can see that on a play like this there can be a broad range of possibilities depending on the details. The final determination is at the decision of the umpire's judgment. You can only hope that his judgment is grounded in the actual playing rules and how they are interpreted. Saying that "contact is necessary for interference" would mean that his basic understanding of the rule is flawed!

 

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Thanks for the explanations everyone, particularly bretman. We had 2 possible instances of it this weekend ... though I was blocked from seeing the one. Clearly on the second one, our runner barely missed colliding with the 2nd baseman causing her to miss the ball, and it should have been called, even though I know it wasn't intentional.

 

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What if the shortstop is standind right in the baseline before the ball is hit. When it is hit its a line drive up the middle over second base. The shortstop runs straight torward second base in the base path and runs straight into the runner trying to advance from 2ndthe to 3rd. The shortstop has no chance of making the catch. Is this interference on the offense or defense. IMO its defensive interference. Thats what it was called but obviously the other coach had his own opinion that was different then mine or the umpires?

 

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What if the shortstop is standind right in the baseline before the ball is hit. When it is hit its a line drive up the middle over second base. The shortstop runs straight torward second base in the base path and runs straight into the runner trying to advance from 2ndthe to 3rd. The shortstop has no chance of making the catch. Is this interference on the offense or defense. IMO its defensive interference. Thats what it was called but obviously the other coach had his own opinion that was different then mine or the umpires?

The defense obstructs, the offense interferes...so I would hope that it wasn't called "defensive interference" because there's no such animal! These are two completely different rule violations covered by completely different rules.

The rules say that a runner can't hinder a fielder who is "in the act of fielding a batted ball". The umpire has to judge if this fielder had any real possible chance of fielding the ball. If she did...then it's interference. If she didn't...then it's obstruction.

 

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Thanks for the rule clarification. Sorry i didnt use the right vocabulary

 

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Here's another situation: Runners at 1st and 2nd, ball is hit to the pitcher, shortstop breaks to back up pitcher in case she misses the ball, pitcher fields the ball and throws runner out at 3rd base for force out. Umpire calls interference on shortstop for impeading runners progress to 3rd. i have never seen this call made before.

 

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Front, that could forseeable obstruction, as the runner has the right to the next base if the fielder is not making the play.

 

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Here's another situation: Runners at 1st and 2nd, ball is hit to the pitcher, shortstop breaks to back up pitcher in case she misses the ball, pitcher fields the ball and throws runner out at 3rd base for force out. Umpire calls interference on shortstop for impeading runners progress to 3rd. i have never seen this call made before.

Only one fielder gets protected from interference by a runner- the one who is actually fielding the ball. That was obviously the pitcher on this play. The shortstop can't be "in the act of fielding the ball" when another player is fielding it!

Sounds like the right call was made on this one...that is, assuming that the umpire called obstruction!

Thanks for the rule clarification. Sorry i didnt use the right vocabulary

No need to apologize! Interference and obstruction are commonly mixed up. When coaches, players or fans do it, it doesn't bother me as much as when the umpire does it!

 

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So true Bret,
heck in the heat of the moment, we all go interference! Obstruction! Intrusion! Whatever it's called!!!!!

 

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What if the shortstop is standind right in the baseline before the ball is hit. When it is hit its a line drive up the middle over second base. The shortstop runs straight torward second base in the base path and runs straight into the runner trying to advance from 2ndthe to 3rd. The shortstop has no chance of making the catch. Is this interference on the offense or defense. IMO its defensive interference. Thats what it was called but obviously the other coach had his own opinion that was different then mine or the umpires?

I had this exact scenario happen at our game a couple of weeks ago. The runner was called out for interference! Matter of fact every time one of our runners even got close to a defensive player they were called out. ;(