To Balk Or Not To Balk, That Is The Question..

[DownTownTonyBrown]

Marty is trying to differentiate between the stretch and the set portions of this delivery.

The original post sounded like the pitcher was standing tall

" Left foot on rubber, right foot in front a foot or so,... Getting ready to go into set position."

Perhaps not in the stretch yet??? So maybe his question was do you allow the pitcher to move his shoulders at this stage of the delivery - something that would look like the beginning of a delivery? This is really two seperate questions - shoulder movement, and delivery movement.

OBR: Yes, shoulder move is allowed until the pitcher comes to his stopped, set position.

FED: No, shoulder movement is not allowed while in contact with the rubber.

For both: any movement the resembles the pitcher's habitual delivery, must result in a legal pitch... any other result would likely be a balk.

I do like the moniker of the Black Letter of the Law... Sherriff Benham (spelling?). I don't think it was meant to be offensive and I don't think you took it that way. But not everybody may be aware that being considered a "Rulebook Official" is not necessarily a compliment.

Which black letter would you choose? I can see your spurs and cowboy swagger now. That's a nice black hat Sherriff.