Calling the illegal pitch

[Dakota]

Originally posted by bluejay
Dakota, I have time to answer yours but not enough for all of WMB's questions. I will get to that later. If she puts foreign substance on the ball nothing she can do (such as stepping back) can make that legal. A pitch does not have to be delivered for that to be illigal. At that point she has committed an illigal act and it should be called. You should not give her time to get on the rubber and step back.

Jay Garner

That's exactly what I said, Jay. To wit...

Originally posted by Dakota
Fine, Jay, except all of your examples are stand-alone illegal acts; that is to say, there is nothing the pitcher can do from that point forward to legalize what she has done. She has crossed a point of no return.

My point was that few (only one, IMO) of WMB's scenarios fit this category that there is nothing the pitcher can do from that point to make herself legal. All of the others, you need to wait until she crosses the point of no return (ASA - separating the hands) to make the call.