Obstruction vs interference: what is the difference in baseball?

What is the difference between obstruction and interference?

The Official Baseball Rules define obstruction as the act of a fielder who, while not in possession of the ball and not in the act of fielding the ball, impedes the progress of any runner. The defense obstructs. The penalty protects the runner.

Offensive interference is an act by the team at bat which interferes with, obstructs, impedes, hinders or confuses any fielder attempting to make a play. The offense interferes. The penalty is an out.

The question that settles most plays is who had the right to be there. A fielder fielding a batted ball has it, and a runner who gets in his way is out. A fielder who has missed the ball, or is standing in the base path waiting for nothing, does not have it, and a runner he impedes is protected.

Interference also covers three acts that are not the offense's. Defensive interference is a fielder, usually the catcher, hindering the batter from hitting a pitch. Umpire's interference is the plate umpire hindering the catcher's throw, or a fair ball touching an umpire in fair territory before it passes a fielder. Spectator interference is a fan going onto the field or reaching over it and hindering a play on a live ball.

When is a fielder in the act of fielding the ball?

Whether a fielder is in the act of fielding is the umpire's judgment, and the comment to Rule 6.01(h) says so in those words. For a throw, the comment gives the test: a fielder about to receive a ball in flight directly toward him, and near enough that he must occupy his position to receive it, may be considered in the act of fielding.

The protection ends with the attempt. The same comment gives the example of an infielder who dives at a ground ball, misses it, and lies on the ground delaying the runner: he has very likely obstructed the runner.

The catcher gets specific treatment. The note to 6.01(h) says a catcher without the ball has no right to block the pathway of a runner attempting to score; the base line belongs to the runner. And the comment to 6.01(a)(10) says that when a catcher fielding the ball and a batter-runner going to first make contact, there is generally no violation and nothing should be called.

How is obstruction penalized?

Obstruction is penalized in one of two ways under Rule 6.01(h), depending on whether a play is being made on the obstructed runner. Either way, the umpire calls or signals it when it happens.

If a play is being made on the obstructed runner, or if the batter-runner is obstructed before he touches first base, the ball is dead. Every runner advances to the base he would have reached without the obstruction, and the obstructed runner gets at least one base beyond the last base he legally touched. The umpire signals it with both hands overhead, the same as Time. If a throw was already in flight, runners get the bases they would have been awarded on that throw.

If no play is being made on the obstructed runner, play goes on until no further action is possible. The umpire then calls Time and imposes whatever penalty will nullify the obstruction. A runner who runs past the base the umpire would have given him does so at his own peril and can be tagged out.

What counts as offensive interference?

Offensive interference covers the acts listed in Rule 6.01(a). The ones umpires see most are a runner who fails to avoid a fielder attempting to field a batted ball, a runner who intentionally interferes with a thrown ball, and a runner touched by a fair ball in fair territory before a fielder touches it.

The rest are situational. A batter-runner who clearly hinders the catcher fielding an uncaught third strike is out. With a runner on third and fewer than two out, a batter who hinders a play at the plate causes the runner to be called out. A runner or batter-runner who willfully interferes to break up a double play takes a second out with him. A base coach who physically helps a runner off or back to third or first base causes interference too.

The penalty is that the runner is out and the ball is dead. Other runners go back to the last base they legally touched at the time of the interference, or, if the batter-runner had not reached first, to the bases they held at the time of the pitch.

Being on a base changes the standard. The comment to the penalty says a runner who hinders a fielder while touching a legally occupied base is not out unless the umpire judges the hindrance intentional.

How should an umpire see and signal the two calls?

Know who is protected before the ball is hit. With runners on, note where each fielder is standing and which base path he sits in. When a ground ball is hit, the protected fielder is the one playing it, and everyone else in the path is a possible obstruction.

Use the two signals the way the rulebook describes them. For a play being made on the runner, both hands up, like Time: the ball is dead. For obstruction with no play on the runner, point at it and say it out loud, then let the play run. The NCAA book writes that call into its penalty in so many words: point and call "That's obstruction" (NCAA 8-3-e-2).

After a delayed obstruction call, keep your eyes on the obstructed runner rather than the ball. The award you make at the end is the base he would have reached without the obstruction, and you can only judge that if you watched his speed and where he was when the throw came in.

Do not call interference on contact alone. Contact between a catcher fielding the ball and a batter-runner is generally nothing. What makes interference is a fielder hindered while making a play, or a throw hit on purpose. Ask whether the fielder lost a play, not whether two bodies touched.

College and high school games play their own versions. The NCAA book, for instance, treats a batter-runner obstructed before first on a ball hit to the outfield as the live-ball kind (NCAA 8-3-e-2) and adds visual obstruction, a fielder intentionally blocking a runner's view of the ball (NCAA 8-3-f). The Veritas pro vs college rule differences table sets the two codes side by side.