Temporary Brain Disfunction and Org. Chaos
 

This may be a short thread, as it needs only ONE definitive (please) answer.

Asked because in talking to partner yesterday he CONFUSED me by being converse to what I THOUGHT was correct, and I can't find a Rool Book to save myself. (Probably in my CAR but that hasn't been cleaned out since '99.)

OK - the question

The call you "can" make in A as U1 on a 3 man crew. The LHP breaking the back plane of the rubber and going to first.

Under FEDERATION: do you make this call for just BREAKING THE PLANE with the foot.. or does the entire foot have to go past the back plane.

Under OBR: same question.

Confession:

I had believed up to yesterday that under FED.. any part of foot would apply and that under OBR INTERPRETATION, the entire foot had to go past. But.. I ...could.. have been in error.

Look in the trunk. It's in your tule box.:D :D

Sorry Mike. I couldn't help myself.

FED - If the pitchers entire free foot breaks the back plane of the rubber and he attempts to do anything other than deliver the batter, that would be a balk.

NCAA & OBR agree with FED. However, OBR adds that if the pitcher's knee breaks the back plane of the rubber, he can only deliver to the batter. Anything else would be a balk.

Latest interpretation found in 2006 BRD item #370 (sorry, there is no 2007 BRD to the best of my knowledge).

Enjoy

Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are gonna get.

Ozzy,

It's NCAA, not OBR, that has the proscription on the pitcher's knee breaking the back plane. The Evans balk video says this is legal in OBR.

Also, the MLBUM says "any part" of the free foot rather than the entire free foot - though I have seen some extremely credible posters state that it is really the entire free foot in order to commit the pitcher to 2B or home.

JM

Rule book says entire free foot. In practice if it's close call the balk.

If I see the foot go past the back edge, and the pitcher throws to first, I call a balk. I don't take my micrometer or my digital calipers with me when working the bases. Only when working the plate.;)

In practice this is also very very hard to do as F1.

Try it sometime or get someone to try it for you and see the results.

Thanks
DAvid

What's hard? Bringing your free foot past the rubber? Or bringing it past and then throwing to first?

Both! Not just past, but entirely past!

Not as easy as it seems until you get on a diamond with the slope and try it.

thanks
David

[QUOTE=mikebran]This may be a short thread, as it needs only ONE definitive (please) answer.

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