Pick off play at 1B
 

This weekend at the annual Labor Day family reunion picnic the following occurred. My dad is a right handed thrower and on the mound proceeds to give up a beauty bunt single to my little brother who overruns 1B and twists his ankle. My stepmom comes on as the pinch runner and is the tying run with 2 outs in the last inning. The right handed pitcher then comes set with his chest facing 1b and his left foot on the rubber like a left handed pitcher would normally do. He then proceeds to step off with his left foot and does a snap throw to 1B with his inside right hand and picks off my step mom bigger than life. The place erupts and I am not quite sure if we will continue to play baseball at our picnics anymore after that heated argument. Was this a legal pick off play?

BALK!!

MTD, Sr.

Was he wearing a glove?

In order to answer this I need to know what kind of cobbler was served at this picnic?

The legality of this play is dependent on many factors, primarily the probability of sleeping on the couch for the next month.

Yes wearing a glove on his left hand as usual and came set like usual as well. Then stepped back with his left foot and snapped throw with right hand. Why is this a balk. He was adamant everything was done by the rules.Told my mom once he steps off he becomes an infielder therefore how can infielders deceive runners he yelled.

simulating a pitching motion while not on the rubber.

For FED, see 6.1.3L

Glove on his left hand means he was pitching right-handed. Therefore his right foot would be his pivot foot and to be in contact he would have to have his right foot on the rubber. He didn't so he was simulating a pitch while not in contact. Balk.

He was not on the rubber because he contacted the rubber with his non pivot foot, not his pivot foot. This was a balk as soon as he stared doing pitching motions while not proerly in contact with the rubber, (looking for sign, scratching, stretch, etc.).

I had a youth coach a few years ago adamantly insist he had found this flaw in the rule a few years ago... Windup position with the non pivit foot on the rubber, pivot behind the rubber, start to hind up, stepping back with the non pivot foot, then pickoff the runner at 3rd...(Love it when a dad thinks he has found a loophole in the rule and teached a kid to cheat...)

Fed 2.28.6 defines pivot foot, so Dad cannot just say his left foort was his pivot foot.

OBR 2.00 The pitcher’s PIVOT FOOT is that foot which is in contact with the pitcher’s plate as he delivers the pitch.

It seems to me this is key: "Glove on his left hand means he was pitching right-handed." Is there rule support for this?

Also, is it even possible to pitch from this position? (I mean physically). And assuming further he could physically deliver the ball to the catcher using his right hand from this position, would that violate any other pitching proscriptions?

1) Under the ambidextrous pitcher / batter rules, there's a clause (or an interp) that the pitcher can "declare" by placing the glove on one hand or the other.

2) Sure. Lots of two year olds first step "goofy footed" when they are learning to throw.

You're not going to see it in MLB, so maybe it's just one of the omissions in OBR.

Now after watching the replay since it all happened so fast. The glove was on his right hand but ahh was pulled up so it was more so attached to his forearm/wrist and the ball then was between both hands.

You think he's going to pitch from the glove? :)

8.01(f ) A pitcher must indicate visually to the umpire-in-chief, the batter and any runners the hand with which he intends to pitch, which may be done by wearing his glove on the other hand while touching the pitcher’s plate.

If he was pretending to pitch left handed after pitching right handed then the ambidextrous rules apply.

Sounds like you meant right arm as you said the ball was between both hands. So he wasn't wearing it on the hand. Violation.

This is a clear example of a clever genius finding a wicked loophole in the rules at a time when it's going to do him the most harm. I frankly can't imagine any scenario where I'd attempt a normal pick-off move if my wife was R1, let alone try some bush-league pick-off move.

Whether the move was legal or not, you should tell you Dad to admit he was wrong, apologize to your mom, buy her some flowers, and send an email to the entire family offering a forfeit.

But he didn't

8.01(f ) A pitcher must indicate visually to the umpire-in-chief, the batter and any runners the hand with which he intends to pitch, which may be done by wearing his glove on the other hand while touching the pitcher’s plate.
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So as a pitcher you are required to cooperate with the baserunner? Do you also have to tell the runner at 1b when you are going to throw over? Glove was worn on the right hand and ball was thrown with the right hand. So this is a violation of 8.01? This is what I need to tell my mom so she knows how to lead off 1b better.

Yeah, there's that, too.

A pitcher is allowed to be deceptive and gain an advantage within the rules, for example changing his/her timing. But as far as declaring which had he is pitching with, yes by rule the pitcher must declare by wearing the glove on the other hand.

I wouldn't tell your mom to lead off smarter, I'd tell you Dad to not cheat in front of the grandkids...

Tell your dad not to circumvent the rules. Seriously, this is on him, not your mom.

You all should stop playing baseball at Labor Day picnic and play soccer instead. See what kind of arguments you can get into with that.

We tried soccer as well but my dad's team would just get ahead and start kicking the ball out of bounds as far as they could. He thought is was so funny because it just wasted time. What is the rule against that?:mad:

Find a new Dad. This one only cares about himself and will do whatever it takes to prove it.

stop feeding the trolls

Always listen to bob.