Balk prior to Set position

[joemoore]

OBR

There are 2 legal pitching positions: windup and Set. You are not in the Set position until you bring your hands together and stop.

From the set position, you can pitch, step and throw to a base or disengage by stepping back off the plate with the pivot foot.

Why is it a balk if you disengage the rubber by stepping forward prior to coming Set? Prior to coming set, you are not in a legal pitching position and there can be no deception. A runner will not break for second before the pitcher comes to a Set Position.

It happened today with the bases loaded, the pitcher and catcher were unclear on signs and so the pitcher stepped forward to meet the catcher. Balked in the tying run (for our team).

[ozzy6900]

OBR 8.01 (a) exerpt

..... From such Set Position he may deliver the ball to the batter, throw to a base or step backward off the pitcher's plate with his pivot foot ......

The pitcher is bound by the pitching rules the moment he is in contact with the rubber. So if your pitcher is contact with the rubber (hands set or not), he has to step backward with his pivot foot to disengage the rubber. Stepping forward would be a balk.

This is not the case with the 3rd to 1st fake in which the pitcher may step to 3rd for the fake and then must disengage the rubber to throw to 1st.

From what I remember, this rule goes back to when pitchers could actually take several steps toward home plate to deliver the ball. That ended somewhere in the late 1800's and this rule is part of the fix for that.

By the way, a runner can take off the moment the pitcher engages the rubber. He doesn't have to wait for the pitcher to come to set.

[Edited by ozzy6900 on Jun 6th, 2002 at 07:13 AM]

[joemoore]

Well, yes, the runner can run, but he knows the pitcher is not going to deliver.

In FED, the rule book states the pitcher is bound by the rules once he engaes the rubber. I don't see such a statement in the OBR.

I was hoping for a rule reference, authoritative opinion, or at least an explanation of why it is considered deception.

[Jim Porter]

Originally posted by joemoore
I was hoping for a rule reference, authoritative opinion, or at least an explanation of why it is considered deception.

First of all, the balk rule is designed to prevent pitchers from taking unfair advantage of the runners. Although some of the balk rules are there to prevent illegal deception (on or astride without the ball), some are penal (quick-pitching), and others are mechanical just like the one you're asking about.

No other rules have gone through such drastic changes as pitching rules throughout the history of baseball. At one time, pitchers threw underhand. At another time, pitchers were allowed a running start. Windmill wind-ups, legal spitballers, and freak deliveries of every kind have seen their days in our National Pasttime.

Around the turn of the 20th Century, and again in the 1920's, rulesmakers sought to conventionalize pitching mechanics. They wanted to end those freak deliveries and sly, underhanded moves. As a result, there are rules today that are purely mechanical in nature. The one you're referring to simply requires the pitcher to step back with his pivot foot to legally disengage from the rubber. It sets a convention that can be expected by the offense every time a pitcher disengages. Without such a convention, pitchers would disengage in many different ways, and runners would be stumped.