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Skahboi: If the pitcher takes her position on the pitcher's plate with her shoulders in line with first and third, the "straight line of the body" would be that imaginary plane that the front of her body would create. If one is pitching behind their back, it would seem unlikely that the release and follow through would allow her to go forward through this plane, hence a violation of the rule.
Starting position must be with shoulders in line with 1st/3rd. But if you are suggesting that the pitcher must finish that way; that the release of the ball and the follow through of the arm will go "through" that plane between 1st/3d, than you've just made most female pitchers illegal. With a typical female pitcher the wrist snap precedes the hip closing. Typically a male pitcher will close his hips before the wrist snap. Your plane with the female may be pointing at SS or even 2B. Thus the release and follow through may be parallel to the "plane."
No offense intended, Scott, but that doesn't work, and further proves my original point that most of us (myself included) "don't have a clue what the straight line of the body is."
BTW - just to muddy the waters a bit. The "straight line of the body" has been in the ASA book for nearly 60 years. The NFHS book is obviously newer. NFHS changed one word - "straight" to "vertical." They probably thought that making it known to be a vertical line would make it easier to understand. Hah! That didn't work either!
Personally I believe it is an outdated rule that is no longer valid and violations should not be called. I think the original rules makers wanted pitchers to be square to the plate (hips/shoulders in line with 1st/3rd as Scott noted above) when they released the ball. They did not want the pitcher to stride out and pitch in the full open position (belt buckle towards 3B). They said, "at no time in the forward swing shall the arm cross the front of the body." Also at that time a "snap or jerky release of the ball at the hip" was prohibited.
A few years later those were dropped and the "straight line" was introduced. Required now was a "follow through of the hand and wrist past the straight line of the body before the ball is released." So they wanted that hand out in front of the body before releasing the ball.
Since 1970 the rule has been as it is today: the release of the ball and the follow through of the hand and the wrist must be forward past the straight line of the body. Taken out of it's historical context, the rule no longer describes its true intent and is very ambiguous. Not only has the rule evolved, but also pitching has evolved significantly from the 1930's and any pitcher that snaps her wrist prior to closing the hips would be illegal under the original intent of this rule. Well, you can't call IP for every pitch on every pitcher, so this rule is no longer valid and should be junked.
And now you know theeeeeeee rest of the story!
WMB
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