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"past the straight line of the body."
I've always felt this is the most ambiguous statement in the entire rules book. I don't think that any umpire has a clue what the "straight line of the body" is; I suspect most of us just go right past this sentence.
Is this a vertical line? If it is straight, then it can't be bent. So the pitcher's body is straight? Can't be bent anywhere? Does it have to be vertical? Can she be leaning forward? Or backwards?
Or is it a vertical plane? Then in what point of the compass can the plane be pointed? Are the hips to be pointed at 1st and 3rd? Or can the hips be pointed at home and 2nd and the release passes in front of the body?
OK, maybe it is a horizontal line. Maybe it is a line directly from the middle of the pitcher to the middle of the plate. So if the ball was released in a sidearm motion, it was have a different angle to the plate than the "straight line" of the body? But we already have rules to prevent sidearm pitching, so this would be redundant.
If it is a straight line from the middle of the pitcher to the plate, then why can't the pitcher throw behind the back. What is the difference between the line of a R-H pitcher throwing behind the back and the line of a L-H pitcher throwing normal?
Use your imagination and tell me what possible pitching motion would violate the "straight line" rule?
WMB
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