The Official Forum - Balk call last night

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Quote:

Originally Posted by thumpferee (Post 846059)

And where did I say I would?

I was speaking about the OP, and the OP stated the pitcher came set, not started his motion.

Also, I error on the side of safety. IMO I would rather kill a play than allow a play to continue with possible distractions. Ex: The pitcher comes set. The batter asks for “time” but I say “no, stay in the box”. As the pitcher begins his delivery the batter steps out of the box. The pitcher holds up and does not throw the ball. I call “balk”.

All that confusion:confused:And you call a balk? Instead of just killing it?

Also, what if the kids contact came out, or a bug flew in his eye. Better to kill it while the pitcher is still set than to have him fire a fastball and hit the temporarily blind batter in the face or stop in the middle of a pitch and pull something because the batter stepped out from being stung in the eye from a bee:cool:

How are you calling a balk on this after reading the cites in this thread?

Quote:

Originally Posted by umpjim (Post 846070)

How are you calling a balk on this after reading the cites in this thread?

The (ex) was from the OP. What have you been reading? We all know a balk is the wrong call here, we have been talking about killing it from the start when the batter requested time.

Justme561,

I hope you learned two things from this thread. First that this was not a balk and that fact is explicit in the rule book itself (i.e. if nothing else at least read the rule book). Second, and probably more important, is that you shouldn't be a "ogre" umpire. It will just cause you greater difficulty in an already difficult job.

Quote:

Originally Posted by thumpferee (Post 846125)

The (ex) was from the OP. What have you been reading? We all know a balk is the wrong call here, we have been talking about killing it from the start when the batter requested time.

Sorry, I was confused. But, regarding the dirty balk, when a team is trying to score R3 with the "time step out" trick (because it's worked before either in your area or some tournament where they got away with it) you should give the pitcher a chance to throw the strike.

Quote:

Originally Posted by umpjim (Post 846131)

I agree. All I was saying is when the batter requested time while pitcher was set, grant it. Heck, the batter asked for time and the PU had time enough to respond with, "no, stay in the box" before the pitcher started his motion. At least I hope he wasnt talking to the batter as the pitch was coming in. That would be umpire INT:D