Quote:
Originally posted by duckump
It sounds to me like everyone forgets that the purpose of the balk is to prevent deliberate deceiving of the base runner by the pitcher. We all need to stop reading into the rules so much that it makes us crazy thinking we are missing something, every player in the dugout is telling the runners on first and third to watch for the 3-1 play so there can't be deception.
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Hey duckump, I think you too may have forgotten a couple of things:
1.
Everything a pitcher does in connection with picking off a runner is deliberately deceptive. A move that doesn't deceive the runner is condemned to failure, so why use it?
2. Not everything a pitcher does is both deliberately deceptive AND illegal, and THAT is the real issue.
I know the underlying intent of the balk rule, as stated in the OBR, but the fact is that there are only so many things that are considered BOTH deceptive AND illegal. In OBR there are precisely 14 illegal acts (balks) which don't require the umpire to make any judgement about deception whatsoever. The ONLY time the umpire should take the pitcher's intent into account is when the umpire isn't sure whether he's seen one of those 14 illegal acts that constitute a balk. THEN and ONLY THEN do the rules allow the umpire to consider the pitcher's intent before deciding to call a balk.
I can assure you, there are several possibilities for ILLEGAL acts constituting a balk under the rules within the 3-1 play, whether or not the runner is deceived by those acts! Surely you aren't suggesting umpires ignore deliberate rule infractions simply because the runners weren't deceived by them? Pish tosh, duckump. Pish tosh, I say! (grin)
Cheers,
Warren Willson