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The Umpire Corner

Umpire interference

Rule question? Get it answered here.

by jtat32 » Wed Apr 01, 2015 11:00 pm

A situation came up in my DDs' HS game tonight that I'd never seen before:

Ump is setting up as far on catcher's left shoulder as I've ever seen an ump set up before. Batter pops up a routine foul ball to catcher's right shoulder. Would have been a very easy play for the catcher, but the ump moved the wrong direction and clearly prevented the catcher from making the easy play. The ump calls interference on himself and awards the team an out.

I was impressed with this ump for taking a mea culpa and trying to get things right, but do the rules (NFHS) justify his decision?
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by Comp » Thu Apr 02, 2015 7:49 am

There are only 2 instances an umpire can interfere. One is when the plate umpire interferes with the catcher on a pick off or steal attempt, and the other is when an umpire is hit by a fair batted ball before it has passed an infielder. Other than those 2 specific cases the umpire is just another part of the field and the umpire was incorrect in awarding the out.
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by Dugout Dad » Thu Apr 02, 2015 9:36 am

Bad positioning, even worse call.
Reminds of the time when we had a blue that remained frozen over the catcher's right shoulder a few seconds after the pitch was made. Both teams stole several bases that game because both catchers kept hitting the umpire's mask on the throw to second. Blue would not move and did not acknowledge he was interfering with the throw. I miss 14U.
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by jtat32 » Thu Apr 02, 2015 5:59 pm

Thanks All for the input! That's what I thought, but wanted to confirm.

The base ump actually got drilled by a line drive in that game, too, but he was in the right position and they made the correct no call on that one.
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