[greymule]

The exact way to handle this play has troubled me for a long time. 6-1-A says, "The pitcher must take a position with both feet firmly on the ground and with one or both feet in contact with the pitcher's plate. The pitcher's pivot foot must be in contact with the pitcher's plate throughout the delivery."

Clearly, the pitcher in the original post violated 6-1-A.

EFFECT says, "A dead ball should be called, an illegal pitch ruled, a warning is issued, and repeated action would result in the pitcher [being] ruled illegal, and removed from the pitching position."

Well, if a dead ball is called immediately, the batter cannot obviously cannot swing at the pitch. Case play 6S.7.2 gives the telling example "The pitcher spits on the ball and pitches it before the umpire can stop play [my emphasis]. The batter (a) swings and misses, (b) hits a home run, or (c) does not swing." The ruling is that in (a) and (b) the play stands since the batter swung at the pitch. Part (c) of course is ruled an illegal pitch.

I infer that on certain types of illegal pitches (spitting on the ball, starting/delivering off the rubber, catcher not being in the box, pitcher making a motion to pitch without pitching), if the umpire can halt play immediately, it is a dead ball and an illegal pitch. If he fails to stop play immediately, such pitches are treated like high or flat pitches.

The book is a bit contradictory, because in 6-1-D it says, "a dead ball should be called," while in 6-7-C it says, "Any infraction of Section 1-7 is an illegal pitch" and "If a batter swings at or contacts any illegal pitch, it is nullified and all play stands."

I have been yelling, "Dead ball!" on illegal pitches that fall under Section 6-1, such as the one described in the original post. Of course, if I fail to get those words out, I have to treat the illegal pitch as a delayed, not an immediate, dead ball.