What would you tell Smitty?

[mbyron]

I had one of our association's notorious Smitties again tonight for a double header. Sweet man, been doing baseball since the Cleveland Spiders played. But oh, what a Smitty.

Last time we worked, we had a disagreement about balks. He declared that, with R3, the pitcher could not throw to F5 away from the base, and if he did it was a balk. I said nope. Dear old Smitty insisted that the rule was F1 has to throw to the base, and encouraged me to go look it up when I got home.

He followed up with me today, asking if I looked it up. Still insists that throwing to F5 away from the base is a balk. What would you tell Smitty?

[BigUmp56]

Originally Posted by mbyron

I had one of our association's notorious Smitties again tonight for a double header. Sweet man, been doing baseball since the Cleveland Spiders played. But oh, what a Smitty.

Last time we worked, we had a disagreement about balks. He declared that, with R3, the pitcher could not throw to F5 away from the base, and if he did it was a balk. I said nope. Dear old Smitty insisted that the rule was F1 has to throw to the base, and encouraged me to go look it up when I got home.

He followed up with me today, asking if I looked it up. Still insists that throwing to F5 away from the base is a balk. What would you tell Smitty?

I'd tell him there's an "umpire org" in Georgia that doesn't require ejection reports in a timely manner looking for him. Then I'd ask him if it's legal to feint a throw to third from the rubber as long the pitcher steps ahead of the feint.



Tim.

[DG]

Originally Posted by mbyron

I had one of our association's notorious Smitties again tonight for a double header. Sweet man, been doing baseball since the Cleveland Spiders played. But oh, what a Smitty.

Last time we worked, we had a disagreement about balks. He declared that, with R3, the pitcher could not throw to F5 away from the base, and if he did it was a balk. I said nope. Dear old Smitty insisted that the rule was F1 has to throw to the base, and encouraged me to go look it up when I got home.

He followed up with me today, asking if I looked it up. Still insists that throwing to F5 away from the base is a balk. What would you tell Smitty?

I would tell him I didn't look it up because I did not need to, but I would ask for his address to send the interps if he would like to see them.

[fitump56]

Originally Posted by mbyron

I had one of our association's notorious Smitties again tonight for a double header. Sweet man, been doing baseball since the Cleveland Spiders played. But oh, what a Smitty.

Last time we worked, we had a disagreement about balks. He declared that, with R3, the pitcher could not throw to F5 away from the base, and if he did it was a balk. I said nope. Dear old Smitty insisted that the rule was F1 has to throw to the base, and encouraged me to go look it up when I got home.

He followed up with me today, asking if I looked it up. Still insists that throwing to F5 away from the base is a balk. What would you tell Smitty?

Nothing and move on.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by mbyron

I had one of our association's notorious Smitties again tonight for a double header. Sweet man, been doing baseball since the Cleveland Spiders played. But oh, what a Smitty.

Last time we worked, we had a disagreement about balks. He declared that, with R3, the pitcher could not throw to F5 away from the base, and if he did it was a balk. I said nope. Dear old Smitty insisted that the rule was F1 has to throw to the base, and encouraged me to go look it up when I got home.

He followed up with me today, asking if I looked it up. Still insists that throwing to F5 away from the base is a balk. What would you tell Smitty?

I would say that I looked it up, and he's still wrong. Then I would ask him to point out his so-called rule to me, since I couldn't find it.

[mbyron]

Yep, did that. He said that F1 can "pitch, step off, or step and throw/feint to a base," which he interprets as meaning F1 has to throw to the base if he throws at all.

I don't want to say merely, "you're wrong," but I don't have a neat, brief explanation. I also tried explaining that, if F1 can step and feint to 3B, that stepping and throwing to F5 can't be a balk.

Oh well. He said he'd bring it up at the next rules meeting, so I guess it's been bothering him.

[SanDiegoSteve]

You might want to tell ol' Smitty that the rule book isn't the only source from which we get our interpretations. Then tell him of all the wonderful manuals that contain the actual interpretations that we use in everyday umpiring.

[bob jenkins]

The "throw to F4/F6 away from the base" is in the JEA balk video. It might also be in the MLBUM.

[UmpJM]

Michael,

Here is the MLBUM reference that Bob J. mentioned:

REGULATIONS:

(a) The pitcher shall be charged with a balk if, while in contact with the rubber, he throws to the first baseman who is either in front of or behind first base and obviously not making an attempt at retiring the runner at first base. However, there is no violation if the pitcher throws the ball directly to first base in this situation.

Also note that there is no violation if the pitcher attempts a pickoff at second or third and throws to an infielder who is in front of or behind
either of those bases (i.e., this violation is only in reference to pick-offs at first base). Also see next paragraph in this section.

(b) There is no violation if a pitcher attempts a pick-off at second base and, seeing no fielder covering the bag, throws to the shortstop or second baseman, neither of whom is in the vicinity of the bag nor is making an actual attempt to retire the runner.

JM

[jicecone]

Dear Ole Smitty was the exact reason I carried most of my manuals in a plastic container in the rear of the car.

I didn't wait until latter, when I had a question to be answered it usually was answered by the time we left the parking lot.

This was also my way of clearing up questions I had about my own performance.

Many of times, instead of getting into a discussion one way or the other I would just say defer it until after the game and hold my back of the car interpretation session. I have even let others take the manual home to read.

I always looked at it as chance to help the Smitties of the world know the rules better so next time we worked he would get it right and we would BOTH look better.

By the same token, there were many times I also corrected myself, bottom line though, there was a crew that was that much better educated on the rules and that is what it is really about.

[mbyron]

Glad to learn that I'm covering the bases. I referred specifically to the Evans balk video and to pro enforcement. It will be interesting to see what happens if this question does indeed come up at an association rules meeting.

[DG]

Since this has come up before, during games and at pre-season association clinics, I have 4 excerpts from various interps on the subject and as mentioned here it is covered on the Evans balk video as well.

1. Study Guide: College Baseball
2. J/R
3. PBUC
4. MLBUM

The interp is the same in all.

[fitump56]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

You might want to tell ol' Smitty that the rule book isn't the only source from which we get our interpretations. Then tell him of all the wonderful manuals that contain the actual interpretations that we use in everyday umpiring.

Then to round out his education, you had best let him know that OBR, and the interps, don't cover everything and he had better have a Plan B.

[fitump56]

Originally Posted by BigUmp56

I'd tell him there's an "umpire org" in Georgia that doesn't require ejection reports in a timely manner looking for him. Then I'd ask him if it's legal to feint a throw to third from the rubber as long the pitcher steps ahead of the feint.



Tim.

Thinly veiled shot at me. One problem, I'm not in Georgia and neither is my unpire "org". "A" for effort, "F" for final grade.