Quote:
Originally posted by Bob Lyle
Regarding rolling the glove when the pitcher is unsure of the sign, I can think of a good umpire reason that you might want to ignore this balk. If the pitcher makes a pitch that the catcher is not prepared to catch, who pays the price?
You the umpire, that's who. We're the one that gets nailed with a fast ball when the catcher thought a curve was coming. As far as I'm concerned, anything that the pitcher and catcher have to do to get on the same sheet of music is in my best interest so I'm not going to penalize them. A mild warning will do, because if I call a balk, the pitcher might guess on the signal the next time he's not sure.
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I certainly have to disagree with your reasoning here. If the only way the pitcher can acknowledge he needs a new signal is to wave his glove ( illegaly under FED rules ), then he is in trouble anyway. A simple shake of the head would suffice or he can say " give it to me again " or any other multitude of ways would be much more appropriate - and legal. Allowing him an illegal move on the premise that you are protecting yourself from an improperly chosen and unsuspected pitch is weak reasoning.
Unfortunately, you are admitting that you are not abiding by FED rules because you state yourself " . . .you might want to ignore the balk . . ". You freely admit that this is a balk and you are not going to call it. I oppose that reasoning and hope you would reconsider your thinking on this.