Quote:
Originally posted by officialtony
Gents. Thank you for responding.
I did in fact call a balk. I'll tell you why and perhaps get your feedback again. First, listening to cbfoulds, I feel like I may have erred. His pause, while distinct and percieved by me, was not so clear to everyone else. But it was his pause that caused me to think about calling the balk. What really caused me to call it was in line with the reply by PS2man. It was not his natural delivery. He did this in the 3rd inning and only with the runner on 2nd base. I really felt like he was trying to decieve the runner. AND it was not consistent with his delivery up to this point. I discussed it with my partner ( I was the PU )at the end of the innng and he confirmed my feelings. The problem is, he ( the BU ) had turned his head to check on the runner at 2nd ( and I still can't figure out what he was looking for ), and didn't see the move. So I was explaining it to him, much like I explained it to you. He agreed with my call, but I don't know if he REALLY understood OR REALLY agreed. I just want to be sure if I'm wrong, that I don't call it again. And if I am right, I want to be right for the correct reasons.
Thanks for the help
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Ok, I'll start w/ : everything that follows is IMHO, OK?
1st problem: PS2 has the rule analysis backwards.
Oh, yeah, and deception [even intentional] by F1 ain't necessarily illegal, much less a balk.
F1 can change his delivery to the plate with every pitch, if he wants to: "his customary delivery" becomes an issue only if he begins same and then DOES NOT deliver to the plate.
You will look for a long time without finding anything in the rule book that says if F1 fools the batter or runner, it's a balk. He!!, that's what F1 is SUPPOSED to do - fool 'em. There are certain, enumerated offenses which are punished as a balk: which one of them did this F1 comit? If you can't point to one, good bet he didn't balk.
The bottom line in your sitch comes down to the "pause". I suspect [but obviously cannot know] that the pause only became real significant to you as it began to dawn on you that maybe you'd errored. I HAVE seen kids "hang up" as if they might be stepping to a base, and that's often a balk. As I said earlier, though - as a simple matter of physics, there is a "pause" of some kind any time there is a change of direction. We all know that a change of direction is not a "clear and discernable" stop for BB purposes. Also, in order for F1's motion
not to be "continuous and uninterrupted", EVERYTHING - both arms, both legs, his trunk - has to completely stop moving all at once and together. While this CAN happen, I suspect [but again, cannot know] that this did not happen in your sitch.
In conclusion, forget about what F1 was/is trying to do, 'cause in general the rule book does not care: focus on what he actually DID. If what he actually did violated one of the specific rules defining a balk - nail him.