[teacherspit]

If I read everything correct it is not a balk.
When the pitcher stepped off the back of the rubber he becomes a fielder. The balk is no longer an option.

I would ration that the pitcher was stepping off the rubber, especially after at least one runner was on base, and throw to an unoccupied base after an offensive play, that the defensive team was making an appeal.
Now if I am not sure I would asked the pitcher what he was doing.
If he is unable and not willing to tell me then I would declare a dead ball and call a ball on the batter. Or I would not allow the appear. Illegal appear.

But under no circumstances would I ever call a balk unless it qualified by the parameters set in the rules of pitching.
If the pitcher had just wheeled and throw back to second without first stepping back off the rubber, then indeed that is a balk because the PITCHER is throwing to an unoccupied base.

If the pitcher had come to a set position and threw to third without stepping back off the rubber, then that is an attempt to pick off the runner. Under no circumstances can a pitcher as a pitcher ever throw to a base to make an appeal.

He must first put the ball in play by toeing the rubber with ball in hand and batter in the box. Them step off the rubber to become a fielder.
Then he can throw to any base he wants to for an appeal. If they miss the thrown ball then the appeal for that base for a certain runner can not be reappealed.
The ball is still alive and the runners may advance at their own risk.

If a pitcher balks when making an appeal, such act shall be a play. An appeal should be clearly intended as an appeal, either by a verbal request by the player or an act that unmistakably indicates an appeal to the umpire. A player, inadvertently stepping on the base with a ball in his hand, would not constitute an appeal. Time is not out when an appeal is being made.

[Edited by teacherspit on Jul 20th, 2004 at 03:20 AM]