Hidden ball trick (it finally worked)

[UMP25]

Originally Posted by ozzy6900

That would depend on the rule set that you are playing under.

OBR - F1 can not be astride or on the rubber

FED - F1 cannot be within 5 feet of the rubber (may as well say off the dirt)

NCAA - F1 cannot be on the dirt of the mound with either foot.

Under OBR, "astride" is interpreted as not to mean just "straddling" the rubber but on the mound near the rubber; however, just how much a pitcher is permitted to be "on" the mound seems to be up to each individual umpire, unfortunately. J/R explains that it's not necessarily a balk if the pitcher is on the dirt. From what Jim Evans once said, and what Jaksa and Roder themselves once said at umpire school, if the pitcher is near the rubber a balk can be justified; otherwise it's a legal deception by the pitcher.

Completely unambiguous, isn't this?