1970's lefties balking

[JR12]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

I remember it being a little more lax back then. A change of direction was good enough, a mere pause if you will. You see the same motion in a lot of adult leagues, Mexican leagues in particular.

Then they came out with that awful "complete and discernible stop" nonsense and everybody started tightening up the balks. Bob Davidson made it an art form. The rule was very unpopular (with pitchers particularly, who were getting balked like crazy) and was removed from the rules to just read "complete stop."

That's all I have on the subject. Any other old farts like me have anything to add?

I have noticed the same thing on the old games from the 70's. Seems a change of direction was OK. I also remember the year they tightened up. Several balks a game(seemed like)