Do you think this is a Balk?

[Benchcoach]

Originally Posted by Rich

I wouldn't care about this delivery in any level of baseball.

Then again, I don't umpire in a rulebook -- I umpire on an actual field.

Your post basically says you don't care and you don't read. Too bad you choose to ignore the Rulebook. You might want to learn the rules before you take the field. Ignorance is not something one generally takes pride in. It is insightful that you are unable to explain why the delivery in question would in fact be legal.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Benchcoach

Your post basically says you don't care and you don't read. Too bad you choose to ignore the Rulebook. You might want to learn the rules before you take the field. Ignorance is not something one generally takes pride in. It is insightful that you are unable to explain why the delivery in question would in fact be legal.

My work speaks for itself.

It's not that I can't explain, it's that I couldn't possibly care to. Big difference.

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by Benchcoach

Your post basically says you don't care and you don't read. Too bad you choose to ignore the Rulebook. You might want to learn the rules before you take the field. Ignorance is not something one generally takes pride in. It is insightful that you are unable to explain why the delivery in question would in fact be legal.

While the rules are in black and white, they are not supposed to be enforced as such. Many of the rules require interpretation or an understanding of why they are there in the first place. Especially OBR, which is a convoluted mess cobbled together over decades of changes. It's in need of a good rewriting.


It might help to know who you're chastising before embarking on such a crusade.

[charliej47]

The first time I saw that and some of the other actions by pitchers during Spring play, I could not understand why it wasn't being called.

I have since learned that this has been discussed and the PROs are going back to the original ruling where "if a patcher is consistent in his movements with runners on base as he is with no one on, then it shall not be considered a balk/illegal patch".

I believe this was first printed in the 1903 or 1913 time frame.

The discussion was that the umpires were becoming too strict and needs to "let the players play".