[DownTownTonyBrown]

I also officiate basketball. In that sport there are many "No Calls" that are considered correct officiating and the mark of a good basketball official. Contrarily, unexpected calls, at the best are the sign of a rookie, and at the worst are the sign of an official with poor basketball judgement.

All this discussion about balks has got me wondering if baseball doesn't also include "no calls?"

If no one is expecting a call. Should I jump and vociferously make a technically correct call and then penalize accordingly? Do some of the balk situations fall into this category of unexpected calls? As runners mature and get more efficient, they notice more detail and perhaps smaller things in the pitcher's actions. Are the runners more likely to be deceived by smaller details? And hence should the umpire call balks for smaller illegalities?

Does the recent NCAA game ending balk call fit into this category of "unexpected?" I have not seen the replay but I would guess that there was no one jumping up and down yelling, "That's a balk!" until the umpire complied and made the call. The pitcher surely didn't think he was deceiving any runners - he was trying to load the bases and I'm guessing R3 was probably standing on 3rd, or very close to it, not attempting to advance but waiting for him to finish the pitch-outs.

So back to the question at hand, "If no one else notices, or cares, should I?" Do you? Baseball is definitely a different sport from basketball and perhaps the "unexpected" calls are truly expected, or at least accepted as part of the game. Different from basketball, does making the unexpected, but technically correct calls, constitute being a good baseball umpire?

What say you?