balk vs illegal pitch [FED]

[PeteBooth]

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by David Emerling

We just had the mandatory state meeting the other night. The big wig who usually makes the presentation, at one point, gave an example of a pitcher stumbling while making his delivery (with no runners on base) and not delivering the ball. He said, "That's nothin'!"

Most agreed and nodded. In fact, I've seen that many times and I have never made any call. Nobody ever complains.

But then a discussion arose that, in FED (unlike OBR), any pitching infraction that would have normally been ruled a balk had there been runners on base, should be penalized as a "ball".

IMO, the "key ingeredient" in rules such as the one you mention lies within the association you belong to. In other words if the "big wig" says "that's nothin" then "it's nothin".

You want to be conistent with these types of rules. You do not want one crew calling it a balk and another crew says "it's nothin"

This is similar to the no shoulder turn (check a runner) that at one time was a balk in FED. In some associations this was ignored completely meaning they went with the OBR interp.

I believe SC still uses the old appeal rule meaning there is not any appeal the umpires call the infraction.

In summary, if your association says "it's nothin" then call it that way.

Pete Booth