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Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve
The pro interps say that the pitcher must break contact, not that the move itself is considered breaking contact. He still has to remove his foot from the rubber. That's why it's written into the rules and their interpretations.
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The reason the pitcher has to break contact to perform the 3-1 move (under OBR) is to prevent it from being a continuous, all-in-one maneuver.
I believe this is just the OBR way of defining what criteria they are going to use for determining whether the pitcher executed the motion in one continuous fashion.
That's what they're trying to prevent.
Although this is a somewhat silly play, I present it for the purposes of highlighting
what I think are the philosophical differences between OBR and FED on this issue.
Play: R1 and R2. F1 does an "inside move" toward 2nd base and makes no throw while stepping directly toward 2nd. F1's foot remains in contact with the rubber. Noticing R1 far off the bag, F1 then rapidly throws to 1st. The ball is thrown wildly and ends up in DBT.
OBR ruling - Despite the fact that F1's foot was in contact with the rubber when throwing to 1st, the base award is TWO BASES. The pitcher ceased being a pitcher after completing the move toward 2nd.
FED ruling - Because F1's foot was still in contact with the rubber when making the throw to 1st, the base award is ONE BASE. Also, had F1 only faked the throw to 1st, it would have been a balk.
Any opinions on these rulings?
David Emerling
Memphis, TN