my logic is, on a ball four/R1 stealing, even if the throw guns R1 out, hes still safe due to the walk (theres a case play on this, IIRC). Therefore, whether the catcher throws down there or not is irrelevant to the play. If its an overthrow and the stealing runner tries for third, *thats irrelevant to the ball four call.* Hes at risk no matter how loudly I call "ball 4," or if it was a strike.
OTOH, the BR erroneously running to 1B on a D3K (usually) impels R1 to advance, which puts him (R1) at serious risk. Of course, this can still happen since if they dont listen to you and advance anyway, and R1 goes, he is risking a putout.
Plus, my Ump's manual instructs me to call this "forcefully", so I do. It says nothing about calling "ball 4" forcefully. So thats what I do
Wed May 04, 2005, 03:39pm
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