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I about died when I read hawk0213's description of this RHP's move toward 1st.
On the 13U team I helped coach this past season, I had my righthander do this EXACT move. We rarely do it, but it does sometimes catch runners who are ONLY keying off the RHP's right foot.
The runners disasterously apply the "thumb rule" they've been taught and think it is a RULE.
My pitcher got called for a balk. I talked to the umpire about it and he said that the pitcher had to "step off" before making the throw. I disagreed.
I'm convinced that he only called it a balk because it surprised him. So, a few batters later, with a runner on 1st, I explicitly told my pitcher to repeat the maneuver. He did. The umpire did *not* call it a balk although it was the indentical move.
The reason I did this was to indicate to the umpire that our team was not going to be intimidated by his poor umpiring and that we fully intended to use ALL our pickoff moves in this game. The move was not ruled a balk for the balance of the game. Naturally, I risked him calling it a balk again ... but I suspected he would not. And he did not.
Also, the other coach "helped" the umpire make the balk call by bellowing out "That's a balk!" I didn't want to reduce our repertoire of pickoffs simply because the opposing coach was able to influence a poorly schooled umpire. So, I felt the need to establish that the maneuver was *not* a balk. What better way than to set a precedence? Once legal ... always legal.
Now - Garth, the very individual who has treated you rather tersely for not knowing this rule, derided ME for employing this coaching tactic - saying that I was embarrassing the umpire. He did not leave room for the fact that the umpire embarrassed himself for being completely ignorant of the rule ... the very thing he is accusing YOU of.
Here's the pattern:
If a coach doesn't know a basic rule - the coach is an idiot.
If an umpire doesn't know a basic rule - the coach is *still* an idiot.
See the pattern? [g]
David Emerling
Memphis, TN
[Edited by David Emerling on Aug 28th, 2004 at 11:28 PM]
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