Quote:
Originally Posted by bob jenkins
If it's "odd" I do ask, "Was that legal or not?"...
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Isn't that exactly what I just said? You don't ask yourself, "Was that legal or not?" if it
doesn't look odd - do you?
That's my point! Our experience tells us - "That's not right." In the next instant, we quickly figure out
why it's not right.
Quote:
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but that's not the same as trying to determine "why, indeed, it is a balk."
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Whether you realize it or not - there are many balks when there is a period of time (maybe 1-sec, maybe 3-secs) between you noticing that "it didn't look right" and when you can say exactly
why it's a balk.
Obviously, there are some balks that simply call themselves - the more common ones - like failure to pause in the set position - not completing a throw to 1st without disengaging - dropping the ball while engaged with the rubber - starting to deliver and then stopping. But there is a host of less common balks (call them unusual or unexpected balks) that can occur and, when you see them, the reason doesn't immediately occur to you, but the fact that it "looked wrong"
does immediately occur to you. Your mind races - you realize
why it was wrong - and you call "Balk!" It all starts because "it looked wrong".
I'm not saying that if "it looks wrong" it's a balk. I'm saying that if "it looks wrong" that's when your brain starts considering that it
might be a balk.
I've seen a pitcher do something odd - I can't see why it was illegal. I call nothing. My partner and I look at one another as if to see, "That was weird" - yet neither of us called a balk because, as we replay what the pitcher did in our head, we can't see what he did wrong.
There is a pitcher around here who, on occasion, does not go through his normal wind-up routine. He just gets the signal and throws it. He may even do this with a runner on base. The runner sees the pitcher on the rubber as if he is going to pitch from the wind-up. The runner thinks the pitcher forgot that there is a runner on base. The runner decides to take advantage of the situation and breaks on the delivery. But there's no wind-up. The pitcher delivers the ball almost as quickly from this position as he does from the set position. It looks very odd. It looks wrong. But it's completely legal.