Expert: Brian Flaspohler - 10/24/2011

Question
Is there such a thing as umpire interference? At one of my son's recent pony league games, a home plate umpire called himself for umpire interference to the catcher on a double steal and sent our runners back to 1st and second. The catcher made a good throw to third but our runner just got under the tag. I always thought the umpires were part of the field of play.

Answer
Mickey,

There is no such thing as umpire interference.  They are considered part of the field of play.

Maybe in this case, the umpire thought it was most fair to the players to redo the play but you'd never see that at any higher level of play.

Hope this helps!

Brian