A-Rod's Distraction Tactic: Bush League or Major League?

There actually is a rule. Its defined as interference. The following is from the Official Major League rules.

This is the official definition of interference by an offensive player, and below is the actual rule which appears in the book.

(a) 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. If the umpire declares the batter, batter- runner, or a runner out for interference, all other runners shall return to the last base that was in the judgment of the umpire, legally touched at the time of the interference, unless otherwise provided by these rules.

7.08 b) He intentionally interferes with a thrown ball; or hinders a fielder attempting to make a play on a batted ball;

Rule 7.08(b) Comment: 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.

Good research...

1. 1 The rule(s) were clearly designed for umpire's descretion

1. 2 I think rule 7.08 is meant to be interpreted as a physical action and not something merely vocal (i.e. runner interference, or maybe slapping the ball out of someone's glove perhaps?)

The guy he tricked was making his MLB debut and probably didn't know whose voice it was. He probably really thought he was called off.

DNL is right, it was just a rookie mistake (Rookie Biatch!). But how is it any different than a) the fans b) when basketball players snap their fingers, clap, yell etc, during an easy layup...

Rules are sometimes open to interpretation, never to discretion, they are afterall, rules. For the play to be called, the umpire must be 100% he heard ARod call for the ball, and also be certain the ball would have been caught if he hadn't said anything. If he was clear on both points, he would have no choice to call ARod out.

The rule is written to cover any situation, of which verbal is one. The word "confuses" is likely part of the rule to cover just this situation.

I have been a player, coach, and umpire (certified) for over forty years, and to the best of my recall I've seen vocal interference called maybe four times, tops.

Yeah, I kind of wanted to see what would have happened if Gibbons decided to push A-Rod.

I'm guessing it would be about the same result as Nolan Ryan throttling Robin Ventura. One of these days, A-Rod is going to get thrashed on the field for this stupid crap that he pulls. And I'm not yet ruling out teammate Derek Jeter (A.J. Pierzyinski might be a good candidate).

much like Ben Davis bunting to break up Curt Schilling's non-no.

Cheap, easy, classless as long as you aren't intentionally hurting people - You do what you have to in order to win

That's the difference between professionals and fans