Legally putting ball in play, dead ball violations

[Boone]

the "quality umpire" leading the charge that this is a balk and not a do-over wrote a well-known former MLB umpire, who might teach umpiring during the winter as well, and this was his response:

I'M WRONG!
I Just received an E-mail from none other than *** *****. How about that guy? Replying to my E-mail at 11:00 at night.

Anyway here's what he said: "The umpire erred in putting the ball in play without meeting all the conditions. Those conditions exceed those enumerated in 5.11. The pitcher must have the ball in his possession; he must engage the rubber, fielders must all be in fair territory; the catcher must be behind the plate and the batter must be "reasonably set" in the batter's box. Then and only then can the umpire legally put the ball in play
It is not a balk when the pitcher goes onto the rubber without the ball when time is out.
The 13 actions defined as balks in 8.05 (a-m) all apply to live ball situations. In the stated case, the ball was legally dead and no runners can be put out with a dead ball (5.02).
Picking crow feathers from my teeth,
Gary

So there we have it. And we are all pretty much unanimous.