NFHS legal windup

[DG]

Originally posted by Carl Childress

DG: Stepping off with the wrong foot IS a balk by official interpretation. (PBUC and MLBUM both agree.) It's a black letter balk in FED and NCAA. I never call that one, and nobody complains because they know what the pitcher is doing. They also think I know all the rules, so....

Now, when that pitcher steps off with the wrong foot and raises his arms simultaneously: "That's a balk." For sure.

Let me conclude my part in this thread: If the umpires in your association don't call the hand movement a balk, that's different from your association telling you NOT to call it a balk. If they do that, they're wrong and unethical.

I would call it, and I would explain it carefully to both coaches in every game. There would be a groundswell of opinion in favor of the book because a pitcher gains a great advantage over a well-coached runner when he can move both hands without pitching.

After I talked to a few coaches, the players would ALL become well-coached.

Look, you KNOW it's a balk. The FED book is very clear and very certain. And it's been a balk since 1993! This is the thirteenth season since the rule was adopted: How can that information not have surfaced in your neck of the woods? (grin)

It's called in Texas, Illinois, and Washington, we know, because posters from those areas have said so.

It ought to be called in your area.

BTW: Do they use the DH where you work? (another grin) I know some FED umpires who hate that rule, and ....

My association does not tell me not to call this, never said so. I mentioned a situation that would always be called a balk (wrong foot) and one that would rarely be called a balk (hand movement).

I know a balk when I see it, by black letter rule, but I am trying to rationalize the "technical ones" not to call. I would call stepping off with the wrong foot, everyone expects it. I have not, to date, called bringing hands together and stopping, in FED, because no one expects it.