Coach yells, "That's a Balk!"
 

Sorry if this is a repeat........

Fed: In the middle of a legal third - to - first pick off move, the first base coach yells, "That's a Balk!"........and the pitcher then pulls up and looks quizically at the Field Ump.

Got anything here?

Yep. 3-3-1o.

Warn the coach that he may not yell at the opposing players. If you wish, you can add that you'd be happy to discuss balk calls/non-calls with him privately.

If a coach yelled something that caused a balk (unlike your sitch), I would not enforce the balk.

If he does it again, restrict him to the dugout. If he does it a third time, buh-bye.

If the Coach DOES cause F1 to balk according to 3-3-1O the penalty is NOT a warning (restriction to dugout) but an ejection.

Therefore, according to rule if the Coach IN FACT caused F1 to balk he is ejected.

Pete Booth

You'd tell an assistant coach you'd be happy to discuss balk/no balk calls privately AFTER he caused F1 to balk?

Wipe off the balk, eject the coach. When the head coach complains: Hey, my hands are tied, it's the rule. :D

"TIME!" Point to F1 and give the SAFE sign "That's nothing!" Point to the offending coach "YOU! You're gone!" with a nice hook!

I do see your point here. If he's in the middle of a legal 3-1 move, the coach hasn't caused a balk since there is no balk.

However, the coach still needs to go or needs to understand that if this happens again, he's getting the hook.

I killed a balk the other day cause some moron next to the dugout screamed out "That's a balk" and caused the pitcher to stop. For a split second, I thought it came from the dugout, but I quickly realized that wasn't possible. Just CS/FP to not allow something like this to happen, IMO.

My bad, sitch was not a balk anyway, so warn 1B assistant and play on.

My objective next winter: to actually write the CS/FP rule book. Could be a hoot.

After I had umped a few years and had a decent knowledge of the rulebook. I went through a short phase where I was calling every little thing: Batter out of box, balks galore, INT, OBS, you name it.

A veteran official in my area sat me down during that time and gave me a short lecture. After complimenting my basic skills he said, "Don't look for trouble."

Amen.

Ace in CT

Thanks for the input and advice. My concern is that the Coach's yelling caused my pitcher to stop the play.

So should I instruct my pitchers to finish the play, finish the pitch, despite hearing an adult out of the pitcher's field of view yell "That's a Balk!" ?

Let's hope everyone else - especially the batter - also stays alert and ready for the play/pitch to occur after such yelling!

Part of the problem comes from FED rules where the ball is dead on the call of balk. Under NCAA & OBR, the ball is delayed dead. Many High School players playing OBR Summer ball get confused. Best thing is to add, "continue playing until you hear the umpire call TIME!".

OK, let's expand the sitch. What if the incorrect batter had hit into a double play, and then it was detected? NOW how many outs would you have?

JJ

Inning over

What incorrect batter? Maybe this goes in the BOO thread.

In any event, the outs made on the play stand in FED, but the enire play is negated in OBR.