Thread: dead ball balk?
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Old Fri Jul 30, 2004, 11:06am
DG DG is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2004
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Quote:
Originally posted by GarthB
Quote:
Originally posted by DG


I understood your point the first time. I try to remember it next time I call a balk after a dead ball. And I don't think I would be ashamed that I did not know he had the ball. That is the point of the "trick".
No. The point of the trick is to fool an inattentive player, not an inattentive umpire. Umpires always know the status of the ball.
If the pitcher and 3b man have a meeting with intent to pull the hidden ball trick, I have no way of knowing who has the ball when they separate. So if the pitcher toes the rubber, I don't think it is bad umpiring to call "play". Inattention has nothing to do with it. Now, as you have pointed out, if I call a balk when it is discovered that he does not have the ball, and therefore the ball could not be live, this call would be correctable, IMO.
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