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OK, so the interference scenario might have been stretching it a little. Bad example. But back to my point...
You say "a balk call is ALWAYS [my emphasis] a judgment call"; like I argued in previous posts, almost every call involves judgement, even if it's as simple as "did the batter hit the ball?"
But exactly how much judgement goes into a dropped ball while on the rubber? I mentioned 2 things to be considered -- did the ball actually touch the ground, and was the pitcher actually on the rubber (I suppose you could throw in whether the ball was live)? I don't think there'll be too many coaches arguing that "the ball never hit the ground, therefore it can't be considered 'dropped'".
Jim, I know what you mean when you say "such-and-such is always a judgement call." My brother, who will be beginning his 3rd season of umpiring, might take it the wrong way. "Coach coming out to argue my judgement call on that dropped ball balk," he thinks to himself. "Coaches can't argue judgement calls. I'm going to run him; I know his pitcher dropped it on purpose." It's not that far-fetched; I've seen the younger guys take statements like yours literally. I was one of them.
When you made the statement, and when Warren made the statement during the whole "no-call" discussion, I took it to mean that "a balk call is a judgement call" should be the entire basis of your argument with a coach or manager.
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