|
I agree.......F1's attempt is clearly deceptive not only to the base runner, but the umpires as well. This is punishable by........"THAT'S A BALK!" and make it stick...sell it......it's a balk!
Balk during a dead ball. Right. Great call! That one will take you far.
If I'm the coach, "PROTEST"! The committee will laugh you off the field.
How simple can this be? The ball is DEAD! Even if the umpire says "play", it's STILL dead. I can understand the umps occassionally getting fooled on where the ball is, especially if F5 and F1 were very good in their sleight of hand. OK, it's not good, but it could happen to the best umps.
But once you mistakenly call, "play", realize what happened, fix YOUR mistake, put the runner back and tell the defense to knock it off. Get them for delaying the game if you want to, but it is NOT a balk for taking the rubber without the ball. The play was DEAD!
|