Bob Davidson
 

What the hell is Balking Bob doing turning his back on the field during a live ball?!?!?! Holy crap. Then he looks startled that something is happened... or perhaps just startled that someone other than him called a balk.

Could you give a description or at least a video of what you are talking about. I have no idea what game this could have taken place.

Peace

Last night - the Yankee game, I believe... a walk-off balk was called by the SECOND base umpire (it was an elephant balk), but Balking Bob had taken two steps toward third, and when the pitcher balked and then stepped off, Bob was turned around looking at left field. VERY ugly to an umpire (and not mentioned by the announcers, of course). Bob then calls the balk also (I guess echoing your partner's signal is the new style in MLB), a balk he couldn't have seen by the way. Only way he knew it was a balk was that the 3rd base coach and R1 on 3rd were yelling at him that it was a balk, and pointing at the pitcher.

Turns out it was the D'Backs and the Dodgers (not the Yanks):

A balk by Esmerling Vasquez allowed Casey Blake to score the winning run in the bottom of the ninth, giving the Dodgers a 5-4 victory Monday night.

That being said, how common is this? I can't recall seeing it before, but, it's happened to the Dodgers THREE times in 41 yrs:

The Dodgers won via a walk-off balk for just the second time since 1969 and the first since beating the Mets 4-3 on Roger McDowell 's 12th-inning balk on May 28, 1989

Here's the only video I saw of it:
Recaps | 5/31/10: Dodgers take wild victory on balk-off - Video | MLB.com: Multimedia

The balk it near the middle of the video.

Another take..and video...of it....

Blake's bluff draws balk-off win for Dodgers | dodgers.com: News

Looks to me like since the batter had stepped out of the box, Bob was walking back into position with his back turned, yes, but his head was still looking back towards the field (you can get a look at it at around the 1:15 mark on the second video posted.

Bob gets a bad wrap from a lot of people and I think that's the only reason anyone brought this up. If it was Jeff Nelson at third I doubt anyone even notices.

No, I would have said something regardless of who it was... although probably without the comments regarding the umpire being shocked that someone other than him called a balk.

Watch his head - I don't think he's looking toward the pitcher at all... what's more, when the 3BC and R1 start yelling and pointing, he reacts as if startled into paying attention, not knowing what the hubbub was about.

Worse, to me, was echoing the call. From the announcers POV and initial POV, it REALLY looks like he was talked into a call by the offense. Only after seeing the whole play do you realize U2 called it first. But it's a pointless echo anyway.

Definitely not watching the play....he is looking out at center....

Actually it was U1, Tim Timmons who made the initial balk call.

It appears Bob missed a great opportunity to put another notch in his gun handle.

BTW-I was watching it live and from the camera angle on the pitcher I didn't see anything at first. The replays at the end of game made it appear to be a balk. However watching it on the MLB website, it looks as if Vasquez stepped off the rubber before starting any motion with his arm.

I missing the point here. He stepped off then pointed toward 3B. What is the balk?

It was called by 1B umpire.

What is elephant balk?

Is this the correct video for question at hand? Batter is stepping in the box and PU is behind F2 when balk is called.

It looked like he started and stopped. The angles weren't that good. Looked like he set twice. Not sure though. Just listen to the announcers...they'll explain it for you :-)

Not to me. I turn the audio down low when announcers start explaining balks.

Can you get it low enough?;)

in the second video, you can see he buckles his front knee, then steps off and points.

All I see is his head in 2nd video. In first he had not come set before he stepped off. I still looking for the balk.

Watch the entire second video. His front knee clearly buckles before he disengages the rubber.

You're kidding right? He started his leg motion to pitch, and then stopped and stepped off.

An elephant play is something that the whole world sees - something so blatant that you can't NOT call it. Picture holding in football on my side, during a sweep to the other side. I'm not supposed to call that (unless I'm NFL). But when the holding involves wrapping the guy up, lifting him off the ground and throwing him 3 yards - it's an elephant hold. EVERYONE saw it... so I must flag it.

Besides ... the issue here is not whether it was a balk or not (it was). The issue is a MLB umpire first turning his back on the play and looking into the outfield during a live ball (heck ... with the pointing and yelling there could EASILY have been a throw to third here had there not been a balk). Then (to me) worse - echoing a partner's call when he couldn't possibly have seen the call in question.

It was not that obvious from the video I saw, but if it happened like that you're right, it's a no brainer.

I agree it's a no-brainer balk. Watch the front leg prior to stepping off with the pivot foot.

As for Davidson ... is he echoing the call, or is he pointing that the runner is awarded home? It doesn't quite look like he's pointing at the mound.

So if your partner calls a balk in a game and you don't see it, you're not going to echo it?

Some places / mechanics teach to echo, some don't.

And, I think either way, there's a difference between "I was watching but didn't see what my partner saw" and "I had my head up my *** and the only balk I could have seen was a colon spasm caused by the burrito I had at lunch."

Yes there is a difference in WHY the balk wasn't seen, but in professional baseball (at least in the minors, anyway) we were taught to echo the balk call, regardless.

And only Bob knows what Bob was doing, but if any of you out there are telling yourselves that you've never looked away momentarily during a live ball situation, you're flat out lying. Everyone has done it. Bob got lucky that this didn't blow up in his face (even though it still looks to me like his head is turned towards the infield)

Who cares? *Every*one looks away from the pitcher for a second. They have 4 umpires, for crying out loud and it only takes one. Hell, in 2-man I'd be hard pressed to say I am looking at the pitcher every split second that he has the ball.

It also looks to me like Bob is merely directing the runner home, not echoing the balk. Of course, that isn't a good enough explanation for those who dislike Balk-a-Day Bob or are looking for any reason to rag on MLB umpires.

Well said Rich.

No. And if I saw it but someone else called it first ... still no.

So if the coach comes out to you because you're closer, you're going to tell him what? I didn't see it? Go ask my partner, he's the one who called it? In other words, "Either I wasn;t paying attention or my partner saw a non-existant balk"

Can't see that going over too well...

Are you an umpire?

If my partner makes a call and the coach comes out to me, YES, I'm telling him to go ask my partner. Because that's what umpires are supposed to do. No way in HELLO am I going to discuss my partner's call with the coach. My PARTNER can come discuss it with me. Coach sure as heck can't.

That's true at every level. I see you imply above that you've umpired "professional" ball. If you have, then you already know this. If you discuss your partner's calls with coaches, you have no business doing 8U, much less pro ball.

If I echo a balk call that I didn't see, and the coach comes to me to explain, what will I tell him?
If I see the balk but my partner beats me to the call, I echo it. If I don't see it, I don't echo it.

JJ

A balk is not the same as a force play at first. A balk is supposed to be seen by everyone and called by everyone, which is why they teach you to echo the call. Strength in numbers. None of this "I'll take no-stops and double sets, you take knee-buckles, etc" nonsense. If you don't echo it, it looks like you didn't see it, which makes the manager think "what the hell did that other guy see??" You echo it, and then your partner is supposed to either intercept the manager coming out or just answer the question before it is asked by yelling out "He didn't stop, Mike!" or whatever the case may be. You cover him, he covers you.

I've heard other umpires in my assoc say the same thing. I always ask them ... so if you echo calls that you see and agree with, but don't echo if you see the situation but don't agree with ... aren't you tipping off the other team that at least one of the umpires disagreed with the initial call?

To my mind, and as I've been trained, in baseball, softball, and football - echoing is almost ALWAYS a bad thing. The only things that should be echoed are things that stop play (dead ball, foul ball, a whistle in football - and even there there's not 100% agreement, etc) and even then, you're only echoing the fact that the ball is dead, not the call itself.

Ah ... thanks. Now I KNOW you aren't an umpire. When I see an umpire yelling across the field at someone, I know they really have no idea what they are doing. Who is this "THEY" that is teaching you such nonsense?

I'm done.

You can think what you want. Anyone who has been to PBUC, the Evans 5 week school or any of Jim's clinics has been taught this very procedure.

Reread my OP. I didn't say I DISAGREED with my partner's call - I said I won't echo the call if I didn't SEE the balk. I have worked with partners who have called balks, and after the game we've discussed it, and I may have disagreed with his call, but that's not why I didn't echo it. Obviously, if I don't see what he sees I'm not calling the balk. Or echoing it.
And some coaches will ALWAYS use the line "Your partner didn't call it - HE didn't think it was a balk." As with all baseball comments, I consider the source.

JJ

I guess I took you to mean that if you didn't see the balk, you wouldn't echo it. MEANING that if you saw the pitcher but DIDN'T SEE A BALK, you wouldn't echo it. Apparently that's not what you meant.

He was not in a set position. He was not beginning a pitch from that position.

This.