First basemans feet

[Jim Porter]

Originally posted by TwoBits
OBR 4.03: When the ball is put in play at the start of, or during a game, all fielders other than the catcher shall be in fair teritory. Penalty: Balk.

Well, now, that's just wrong. You cut out the actual rule that has a balk as the penalty!

4.03 - When the ball is put in play at the start of, or during a game, all fielders other than the catcher shall be on fair territory.

(a) The catcher shall station himself directly back of the plate. He may leave his position at any time to catch a pitch or make a play except that when the batter is being given an intentional base on balls, the catcher must stand with both feet within the lines of the catcher's box until the ball leaves the pitcher's hand. PENALTY: Balk.

A balk is the penalty for 4.03(a), not 4.03 in general. And that agrees with 8.05(l):

8.05 - If there is a runner, or runners, it is a balk when -

(l) The pitcher, while giving an intentional base on balls, pitches when the catcher is not in the catcher's box;

And, finally, such a balk is ignored in today's baseball. 4.03(a) and 8.05(l) are old holdovers from the Dead Ball Era, when the rulesmakers were doing everything they could think of to produce offense in the game. The catcher's box was considerably larger back then as well. An intentional pass is now considered good strategy. Any modern OBR umpire worth his salt would ignore 4.03(a) and 8.05(l). Strike them from your book, and just tell a catcher to stay in his box longer if he's ridiculously outside of it.

There was one example of the, "fielder's balk," in Major League Baseball that I know of. It happened in the 80's when Red Sox second sacker Jerry Remy, with a runner on third, entered foul territory to back up an appeal attempt at first base. The umpires called a balk. That effectively nullified Boston's appeal.

Director of Baseball Umpire Development at the time, the late Barney Deary, issued a ruling following that play. He basically said that anytime play is initiated while the defense has less than 8 players in fair territory, the play is nullified.

Repeat after me: Only pitchers can balk. Only pitchers can balk. Only pitchers can balk . . .