Gentlemen,
We are talking about Official Baseball Rule 8.05(l).
This rule was adopted just before the turn of the century. Back then the game needed any boost in offensive production that the rulesmakers could muster. This era was very boring for the sport of baseball. Low scoring games were the order of the day.
The rulesmakers intended to discourage pitchers from pitching around hitters by forbidding catcher's from leaving the huge, triangular, catcher's area to facilitate an intentional walk.
The catcher's area back then was far bigger than in today's game. Basically it was an extension of the foul lines reaching as far back as some 90 feet from the point of home plate. That's hundreds of square feet as compared to the roughly 30 square feet in today's catcher's box.
In today's baseball there really isn't a need for 8.05(l). This rule is not strictly enforced by Professional umpires - it is rather ignored. Besides the change in size of the catcher's area, today's game has much more offensive production than when this rule was adopted. An intentional base on balls is now widely accepted as simply good strategic baseball.
We all know the problems with the age of the OBR. It is truly a jumbled mess. But looking to the history and intent of a rule can sometimes help us figure out just how to administer it during a game. 8.05(l) is just one of these instances.
If this was a game under the Official Baseball Rules, that umpire really screwed up!
Now the original poster mentions that, under whatever rules they were playing, an intentional pass could have been achieved by a simple request. Although that sounds more like the National Federation of High School's playing rules, there are leagues that utilize this "speed-up" rule.
For example in Senior Big League (Little League 16-18) an intentional base on balls can be achieved by request - just like FED.
So this might have been OBR and it might not have been.
I know nothing about FED rules.
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Sincerely,
Jim Porter
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