Quote:
Originally posted by cbfoulds
Quote:
originaly posted by Dave Hensley
My response to a request for an explanation would be "he violated 8.05(g), by making a move simulating a pitch while not in contact with the rubber."
|
Dave ol' buddy: you'd best actually go back and read the rule you think you are citing.
It is a balk if:....
(g) The pitcher makes any motion naturally associated with his pitch while he is not touching the pitcher's plate;
Note that a move "simulating" a pitch [whatever that may mean - here you are apparently using it to mean something that sorta-kinda looks like but is NOT "a motion NATURALLY associated with" the pitch] IS NOT FORBIDDEN by this rule.
Lifting the pivot foot/leg IS NOT a motion "naturally associated" with ANY pitching delivery. It is not a balk. If F1 intends to decieve the runners, he can suceed if and only if the runners and their base coaches are all entirely brain-dead. If that is darwinian of me, GOOD!
To repeat: the only rule violated by this move is the old: don't-do-anything-so-ugly-that-it-wakes-up-the-umpire, lest he balk it on the principle that if it's that ugly it must be illegal, -Rule[9.01Q]. However, that Rule only applies in CalvinBall, so most of us are not supposed to be using it.
|
With your interpretation, there would essentially be no use for 8.05(g) at all. It would never come into effect. Your logic is circular.
Here are Jim Evans' comments on 8.05(g):
Customs and Usage: This prevents deception by the pitcher. Often, it is difficult for the runner to determine
whether or not the pitcher is in actual contact with the rubber. If the pitcher tries to deceive the runner in this
manner, it shall be called a balk.
A game in which the umpire is allowing the abuse of 8.05(g) with moves such as the one that began this thread, or the other popular trick move that should be balked but apparently you guys wouldn't balk - in which the pitcher from windup steps backwards with his pivot foot while raising his arms in a windup move, and then quickly pivots and picks off the runner - will surely resemble "Calvinball" quite a bit more than the games in which these bush-league, Emerling-style calculated moves to deceive the runners are appropriately nipped in the bud by being balked.