End of Playing Action

[Jim Porter]

Pete,

(Remember now, I'm an OBR-only umpire, so this FED business is foreign to me - - I won't even touch it.)

I think it is important to remember that, in Rich Fronheiser's play, the ball was not dead because of the umpire's call of, "Time."

It was dead by rule because, when he feinted to first, the pitcher was no longer attempting to pick-off the runner. Therefore, he cannot possibly throw the ball wild when attempting a pick-off. You see? He aborted his attempted pick-off, which resulted in a balk being called.

We are not calling this dead because of a break in continuous action. We are calling it dead because of a break in the pitcher's continuing action. As Papa C. pointed out, there is a difference.

The end of continous action is a definite break in play, and is used to define when the umpire calls time on various plays, Type B obstruction, for example. It also defines when the umpire calls time after a pitcher follows a balk with a wild pick-off attempt.

However, the question of the end of the pitcher's continuing action defines the very question whether or not the pitcher ever even completed a wild pick-off throw to begin with.

Since he aborted his pick-off throw, he was disengaged from the rubber, he was an infielder at that moment, he was no longer attempting a pick-off throw, and, therefore and ergo, he cannot possibly throw his pick-off attempt wild.

I hope that difference is clear. Otherwise, I can see how the definition of the end to continuous action could be blurred by this play.