Thats a Balk - by the numbers

[TussAgee11]

Originally Posted by MrUmpire

This post, unless I misunderstand it, makes you appear to be a "black and white" rules umpire.

Would that be correct?

Do you have this same philospohy, "Its my JOB that if I see it, I call it.", with every rule?

Here's my deal. I will prioritize my responsibilities in accordance with my anticipation for a particular play. For example...

I'm PU, R3, 1 out. Fly ball down the LF line. Guess what will be last on my priority list. The tag up at 3rd. I got a fair/foul and then a catch/no catch on my plate first. So when I get to my tag responsibility, how could I still be "black and white" with the rules? Unless I see something glaring here, R3 ain't getting called out, even if I suspect it was a second early.

Same idea goes for balks. Am I going to get balks that I am 80% certain about? Heck no. Only 100%. And if I'm 100% about it, chances are it was what some other posters claim would be "obvious." Maybe it won't be, but to me it was, and that's all I care about.

I'm talking JV/Vars and up.