Pitcher taking signals.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by mbcrowder

I'm sorry, but this backward logic is nonsense. Everyone here knows that part of the intent of this rule is to prevent quickpitching. In fact, this is the rule pointed to when you balk a quick pitch. By your backward logic above (and your explicit statements that taking a sign is not required, despite the fact that the rules say the pitcher shall do exactly that), if a sign is not required, then this rule does not, in fact, prevent quick pitching. The fact that it DOES illustrates why this logic is incorrect.

A rule that states that a player shall or must do something does not automatically mean that he must not or shall not do something else. The rules do not state that it is a balk is the pitcher takes signs from off the rubber - it simply states that he must, in fact, take signs from ON the rubber.

Wrong. My logic is flawless. This is not my opinion alone, it is shared by many. There is no requirement to take signs. Sometimes the catcher doesn't give signs at all. What, we are supposed to say, "wait a minute catch, you didn't give him any sign?" The rule is not there to make the catcher give signs to the pitcher, it is to prevent the pitcher from taking his sign off the rubber and quickly stepping on and pitching the ball.

It is quite evident that the rule means that if the pitcher takes any signs, it shall be from on the rubber. Any other way of looking at it is the flawed model. I got a very nice grade at the university in Logic, thank you much.