The umpire shall then call “Time” and impose such penalties, if any, as in his judgment will nullify the act of obstruction.In addition, the fielder who commits the obstruction is charged with an fielding error.
When a fielder hinders a base runner, baseball commentators (including the announcers of the 2013 game discussed below) will often mistakenly refer to obstruction as interference.
With one out and the score tied 1–1 in the bottom of the tenth inning, the Devil Rays' Carl Crawford was taking a lead off of third base when Tino Martinez hit a fly ball toward Mariners left fielder Raúl Ibañez.
Emmel called obstruction on the ground that López's action, within the language of the rule, had "impede[d] the progress of" Crawford by not letting him see precisely when it was safe for him to leave the base.
On October 4, 2003, in Game 3 of the 2003 American League Division Series between the Oakland A's and the Red Sox, the A's Miguel Tejada was called out after he apparently misunderstood the obstruction rule.
Tejada rounded third and collided with Red Sox third baseman Bill Mueller, who was trying to get into position to receive a throw from left fielder Manny Ramirez.
Therefore, under Rule 7.06(b), Welke's call was only preliminary, the ball was still live, and the play was supposed to "proceed until no further action [was] possible," at which point the umpires would judge whether Tejada would have scored if the obstruction had not occurred.
Tejada was called out after Varitek tagged him with the live ball because, in light of his jogging, the umpires could not say that he would have scored if the obstruction had not occurred.
As a result, the third-base umpire, Jim Joyce, ruled obstruction, and thus Craig was awarded home plate and the Cardinals won the game 5–4.
Home plate umpire Dana DeMuth then made the final call that Craig was safe because he would have scored if Middlebrooks's obstruction had not occurred.