BlueJays-Sox (BalK)

[Jim Porter]

Originally posted by brian43
why did Jim say the rule has nothing to do with the fielders positioning in the beginning of his post, but later on in the same post he said what i originally said about fielders needing to be in range to avoid the balk being called when throwing to an occupied base?

Because the rule itself has nothing to do with the position of the fielder. The rule merely requires the pitcher to throw to first base.

However, we use the position of the fielder as a guide to determine if the throw was, in fact, to the base. That's based on interpretation.

It is semantics, but important semantics in my opinion, especially for amateur umpires. A skipper isn't interested in hearing about interpretations. He wants to know the rule. The rule says the pitcher is required to throw to first base. That's the rule.

The position of the first baseman is our homework. The requirement to throw to first is the rule.