PU/BU Communication on balk call

[DTQ_Blue]

MS Baseball, I'm on the bases. The feel of a storm moving in is in the air. Runners at 2nd and 3rd. Pitcher assumes windup position, hands together. I am looking at pitcher, not toward home plate. I then see pitcher go from windup to set w/o foot coming off rubber. Momentary pause and pitcher steps off rubber. I look toward plate and PU is out of crouch, standing looking at sky as if looking for lightening. I yell "time," ask if PU had called time out, he says no, I say "that was a balk," i.e., windup to set move. R3 scores on balk, tying the game, 1 inning later (7th) game called because of rain, ends in a tie.

My mentor tells me that at some point when I wasn't looking toward plate, PU must have come out of crouch and F1 then went from w/u to set, thus PU instigated the balk and it should have been waived.

However PU said nothing beyond answering answering my question about not calling time out. Did I ask the wrong question? Should he have said something to absolve F1 of the responsibility for the balk.

[bossman72]

Hmmm.... you probably should have called the balk right away when it happened. The PU standing up shouldn't be a factor in negating a balk call.

[jkumpire]

First, good job on calling the balk. So many umpires are scared of ever calling a balk, it's news when it happens.

Second, the general rule of thumb is: "See a balk, call a Balk" no matter where you are. If the PU had time, then it is up to him to come and tell you he has time and say there is no balk. If he doesn't, then you are right to call it. You should be able to see the plate area when you are in B or C, so not knowing you partner had time is not a good thing, I'm not sure how you missed it. That is what you missed on the play.

But, your mentor is mistaken with his comment. Your partner: A, should not have been looking for lightning with the pitcher on the rubber. B, if he's looking at the sky then, he not keeping his mind on business. That's not your problem.
C, like I said, your partner needs to tell you if time was out. You might look stupid for calling a balk during a dead ball, but at least you two get the call right. If he didn't then the balk call is correct. D, just because PU comes out of his crouch it does not allow the pitcher to do what he wants. Your mentor, and no doubt a good umpire, is reading stuff into the play that isn't there.

Good umpires will "go down with their partner" on a balk, unless they have something immediately that negates it. It is then your job to "own the balk", and explain to anyone why it was a balk. If your partner did nothing or said nothing, that's as much support as you will get from him that day. Good call, and I hope you work with a better partner soon.

[RPatrino]

This also brings up the importance of putting the ball back into play after every dead ball. If you are not doing that when working the dish, you should start.

Bob P.