I don't know about that -- everyone looks for the start of the pitch as being the step back with the free foot. Matter of fact (Tee, don't read this), I know that bringing both arms up together and pausing doesn't get balked in this neck of the woods. [/B][/QUOTE]Why? [/B][/QUOTE]Because it would be considered a "highly technical balk", no runners move when the hands move together, and no one complains that it is not called. Everybody in my Fed association would balk stepping off from the windup with the wrong foot, but about half the association would not know this was a balk and the other half does not call it. [/B][/QUOTE]If I were a coach in "your neck of the woods," you would call it - or lose every protest when you didn't.
It's not a technical balk. It's a real balk because there are consequences when the runners are coached well. Stepping off slowly with the wrong foot (with hands remaining motionless) is technical. Everybody knows what the pitcher is doing - and why.
Moving both hands is, BY RULE, the start of a pitch. I would send my runner, and the guys in "your neck of the woods" wouldn't balk him, and I would laugh all the way to the bank.
You guys had better get you heads (and necks) into the rule book.