Long night at the ballpark.
 

WARNING: What you are about to read is a tale of an experienced umpire who had a serious brain fart. Don't try this at home.

After a comedy of errors, we arrive at the top of the 8th inning. (FED ball, by the way.) Terrible game, but generally uneventful. R1 & R3, 1 out. Pitcher fakes a pick-off to first, I call a balk. The coach insists that he stepped off, so I asked my partner, who evidently saw the step off. (As I replay that moment in my mind, I still don't see it, but anyway...) Needless to say, $hitstorm ensues. In light of the game situation, and knowing full well that neither side was going to be pleased, I cancelled the balk and placed the runners back on first and third. I'll spare you the gruesome details of what followed, but it did involve an assistant coach and a bus. Here's my question:

Given that situation, is this a correctable gross miss? I know by the letter of the law, once a balk is called, it's a balk; but is there any wiggle room in a case like this? I welcome your wisdom and the obligatory flame or two.

It's your call to ask the partner. If you're sure you have a balk, there's no reason to ask.

Question to all- isn't a balk a judgment call that can not be appealed?

Im curious, where does it say 'once a balk, always a balk?' I'm not familiar with this, but will gladly accept guidance here.

FED allows for umpire consultation when a decision could be in conflict with the rules. If your partner was absolutely sure that he saw F1 step off, then F1 was legal. IMO that's a rules interp, not a judgment call.

Now whether your partner was smart in offering this info, in light of the storm you both knew this would cause, is another matter.... :D I have never seen a game where a balk call was reversed...but I have a small set of data points :D


As you allude to, this is a sh*t sandwich either way. Once you 'consult', somebody's gonna tossed no matter what.

Experience is the key!
 

Plays like this can easily be pulled off by good game management.

I might be able to get away with it where a young umpire probably would not.

I've made the same call before - checked with BU who said he did step back and we put everyone back.

Coach - this is what I called but I was wrong - "let's play ball"

I find that coaches will learn to respect your honesty - but it all depends on the umpire and his standing in the area as to how much grief you are going to catch!

Thanks
David

Mlb
 

I remember this happened in a MLB game last year in New York. Chuck Meriwether (working the plate) called a balk but after he conferred with 3B ump Tim Timmons, he overturned his balk call. In this instance, the pitcher started in the windup position and stepped off with his pivot foot VERY VERY quickly and made a throw to second base...I think.

A balk call when F1 was off the rubber is one of the NCAA approved instances where a non-calling umpire may provide information to the calling umpire.

Thank you for your responses. It's at least moderately reassuring to know that I'm not the first to make such a bone-head call.