That's a balk (video)

[David Emerling]

Originally Posted by canadaump6

Can you please explain to me what interpretations the video gets wrong? Nobody in my association has ever questioned it.

This reminds me of the time when, at one our mandatory, preseason umpire meetings, when a DVD series was played regarding the rules. It was completely based on OBR rules. Even the rule reference numbers were of the OBR variety. This is for high school baseball!

Of course, much of it applied, but some of it absolutely did not apply - especially in the area of balks.

It also claimed that stepping on the plate, when hitting a pitched ball, was not a violation unless the entire foot is out of the batter's box when contact is made. That is true under OBR. Untrue under FED.

I looked around the room and everybody was watching the video as if nothing was wrong.

I felt like standing up a screaming, "Do you guys realize this is a video on the wrong set of rules????"

I just shook my head. It was typical. The meetings are supposed to be instructional and are completely useless. In fact, a lot of negative training gets done. We have a horrible organization. It's just a good ole boy network where all the guys who have been around forever listen to themselves talk and tell war stories.

David Emerling
Memphis, TN