baseball

[left-field]

Check this out! Catchers balk to win the game! You make the call. Last inning..1 out...tied game...runner on third, pitcher is going to intentionally walk the bases laoded. When the catcher was clearly out of the catchers box. On the first pitch balk was called and game was over. it was a PIAA basball game, so the team did not have to pitch to the batter but they did. Would YOU make this call???

[Alligator Bag]

I would hate to think I would circumvent the rules in any way or tell someone when they make the correct call they are wrong. But I also believe in game management and the fact they are intentionally walking the player is reason enough to remind the catcher to get his butt back into the box next pitch. I would hope that at the end of the game a plate umpire would have a good working relationship with the catcher and stay away from a situation like that.

[Tom Cook]

Good call Aligator. Good place to practice some preventative officiating.

[linejudge]

quote:

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Originally posted by left-field:
Check this out! Catchers balk to win the game! You make the call. Last inning..1 out...tied game...runner on third, pitcher is going to intentionally walk the bases laoded. When the catcher was clearly out of the catchers box. On the first pitch balk was called and game was over. it was a PIAA basball game, so the team did not have to pitch to the batter but they did. Would YOU make this call???

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Well, that play would suck. But the first thing that comes to mind is not a balk, but an illegal pitch. Is this correct? If so, then it is a delayed dead ball, and the pitch is ruled a ball.

Just wondering.

Erick

[bob jenkins]

It depends on the rules you are using. Under most codes, it (technically) results in a balk. Under LL, it may not (I'm not sure, I don't do LL).

[Gee]

Wouldn't the cather or manager inform the PU of the move before the pitcher or batter are put into that position? The pitcher and catcher certainly knew about it. Why not the PU?

[Jim Porter]

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