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As always, I am amazed at the response to rules that umpires don't like, didn't know, or don't understand.
Gentlemen: The word "feint" is not defined in the FED book, nor (directly) in the NCAA, nor (directly) in the OBR. When that is the case, rules committees intend for the reader to take the word at its face value; that is, there is no specific "baseball" definition, as for example exists with the word "balk."
Balk: "To stop short and refuse to go on." If a pitcher does that, he has "balked," but he may not have "balked."
Feint: a deceptive action designed to draw one's attention away from a real purpose: Pretend to throw to one base and actually throw to another.
When a batter feints a bunt, what is the action?
When a fielder feints a tag, what is the action?
When a pitcher feints a throw, what is the action?
This is, in fact, a simple no-brainer. Every person ever connected for longer than a week with baseball knows what a "feint" looks like.
The NCAA book even "defines" a feint in an oblique manner by saying: "...any feinting motion (without completing the throw)...." (9-3a)
I use the NCAA book for even further evidence of what constitutes a "feint." In a college game the rule specifically allows the pitcher to step toward occupied third and he "need not feint a throw." (9-3b-3) [They are the only book that allows that.]
Finally: the OBR book itself also "defines" a feint as something that simulates a throw: "The pitcher, while touching his plate, feints a throw to first base and fails to complete the throw." [my emphasis] (8.05b)
Please explain how the committee expects a pitcher to fail to complete a throw if it didn't postulate that the feint includes a faked throw?
So, we know from experience, common sense, the general understanding of "feint" current among English-speaking people, and at least two baseball committees that a "feint" includes arm motion.
The FED book says: If you feint or throw, you must take a step: "failing to step with the non-pivot foot directly toward a base ... when throwing or feinting there...." (6-2-4b)
The OBR books says: If you throw, you must step. It mentions feints, but it does not include a step in connection with the feint. (8.05b and c)
That was the point of my question. It is also the point of my request to the PBUC.
To conclude: The issue I bring up has been debated for at least 30 years that I know of. (1) One side says the OBR pitcher "must step even when he feints"; (2) the other says, "'taint necessary: read the book." Mike Winters, an MLB, is on side 1: He says the OBR pitcher must step -- just like the FED pitcher. We'll soon know what the PBUC thinks about the issue.
One thing is clear: If a FED pitcher steps toward a base and does not feint a throw: "Time: That's a balk!"
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