BrainFreeze

This response is pretty disappointing. It's not worth explaining much, because the legal move you're not bothering to describe doesn't exist. Pitcher is required to step directly towards a base when making a throw to 1B. It's physically impossible for a right-handed pitcher to pick up their free foot and step directly towards 1B. If any umpire thinks it's possible, I would love to see a video of said umpire on the mound actually trying it. Should be good for a giggle. Hopefully anyone that tries it will understand that the RHP's free foot must move towards HP on it's way towards 1B. It's not a direct step -- that's why it's a balk. <-- See that period again? That means period. Full stop. Balk. All day. Every day. Every ruleset. Everywhere.

You're misinformed. Please provide a source for that? YouTube is not a source.

Back to the original topic. My thoughts, without tangent: RHP comes set. He can step off backwards, pitch to home, or execute a jab step / jump turn pickoff move. The pause could easily be a balk, but I would be careful balking here. Most of us can judge well enough whether or not a pitcher has "frozen" in a position to call the balk. Sometimes, the pitcher can come very close to freezing but the are still moving slightly. You said you had a balk from the pause, so you saw it and it's hard to second-guess the call there. Let's assume that he didn't pause, but swung his leg in the air to first. Total balk. All day, every ruleset. I'll repeat what I said earlier, RHP in the set position cannot lift his free foot and throw to first. <-- see that period? That means period. No exceptions. Good call.

Thank you for clarifying. Please refer to @Senor Azul's comment directly above yours, the jab step needs to be done in a continuous motion without interruption. If it's not done quickly, it can easily be a balk, and unfortunately, that's what was being taught (incorrectly) to these young players.

Here's the link to the thread that Senor Azul mentions. Thank you for the reference @Senor Azul, the NFHS case play is informative.

@maven and @ErichKeane, you're saying that an RHP, after coming set, can pick up the free foot, and without disengaging, step towards 1B in a pick-off attempt? I understand that's different than what I said originally. Let me amend what I said originally: Once the RHP is set, anything that isn't a jump turn to 1st from an RHP is a balk.

OK - I read that and I thought, WHAT?? But after another read, it sounds like you're describing a jump turn/jab step. Yes? Because anything that isn't a jump turn from an RHP is a balk. We're on the same page, right? Tangent: I had the privilege of a "baseball guy" come to one of our practices, and he tried to teach our pitchers a "two-step" jump turn: Pivot foot comes off the pitcher's plate and steps towards third in front of the pitcher's plate. Free foot steps towards first base Pitcher throws. When 1 and 2 are done together and quickly, it's a jump turn. He wasn't teaching together and quickly though -- it was a two-step move that was almost like a dance step. You could count it out -- step, step, throw. The pitcher would disengage the pitcher's plate by stepping forward. Then, free foot would step towards 1B. ( I hope I'm describing it well enough. ) I was an AC on the team, so I kept to myself. I told our HC, hey that's not legal that's a balk. HC asked "baseball guy" and he got irate, swearing up and down it was legal. "Baseball" guy was a youth coach -- definitely not an umpire.

@ArchAngel72 is this in Little League?

That seems like the team knew it was an illegal bat. Glad the player and coach were ejected, but that's apparently the penalty in PONY rules? Seems like more severe penalties should be available under other rulesets in a situation like the one described above.

I see this a lot in these threads and I honestly don't get it. Do any of you work games where a coach goes to get the TD to appeal a ruling you've made? Unless there's some tournament rule that says "teams can go get the TD if they don't like the umpire's ruling", when the TD comes up to my field I'm telling him ( or her ) to piss off; and grab their gear because they're the new umpire; and piss off

It is however your responsibility to get the call right, and your obstinance does you no good when you have a feint to 3d in a game situation and the offensive HC loses his mind because you tell him that you *know* it's a balk but you're not calling it because the TD wrote a crappy rule. Earlier in the thread you said you didn't want to pick a particular booger -- so *this* is the booger you'd rather pick?

Twice during games I've moved *out* to the mound, both times it was from catchers who literally could not catch the ball. Barring that, I would not ever choose to work from behind the mound.

I worked a tournament last year with same modification. In the pre-game meeting my instructions were that a feint to 3d was illegal due to the modifications. I would have had a balk here for the feint to 3d. Also having a hard time visualizing how the RHP would kick and step towards 3d and then be disengaged? Maybe I am reading it too literally...

Did the police take any actions? You did the right thing by asking the league, "What am I supposed to do?" I think the league's response was inadequate. Keep in mind -- the league's response is going to be what's in the best interest of the league. That may or may not mesh with what's in *your* best interest. Others in this thread have said call the police immediately. I agree with them. Your first and only obligation is to keep yourself safe. Calling the league won't do that. Call 911 first, call league officials second. Since there's already a police report, if the guy shows up again you could probably get a restraining order against him. The league has "banned" him, but a restraining order adds legal teeth to the ban. Good luck!!

Did you decide to ask tournament director for help, or did someone "appeal" after they disagreed with your ruling? If a "tournament director" "overruled" me, they would be umpiring the remainder of the game.

What an awful take. This sounds like Internet Tough Guy syndrome. How about you casually pick up a bat out of your trunk while some guy is yelling at you and you get five or six new holes in your chest because Stand Your Ground? Wonder what the reaction to that video would be?

@wolfe_man, your comment is excellent and well-taken. So of course I disagree completely with it 😀 Assume that what you've supposed is in fact what happened. Guy has day from Hell, gf left him for an umpire, and everything boils over all at once and @MarsOmega is unlucky enough to be standing there. Yes -- defuse, de-escalate, do whatever needs to be done to get out of that situation safely. But absolutely call the league, call the police, and press charges. If our friend is really having a bad day, and this is a one-off situation, let him have his day in court. Courts have discretion, and they are sympathetic if someone really merits "a break". They can mandate counseling, they can send him to anger management, etc. They have tools to let him demonstrate that it really was just a day from Hell, and he's really not that person. All of which can be done without a permanent criminal record. If, on the other hand, the guy really is an a-hole, let the courts deal with him the way he deserves to be dealt with. Police report needs to be filed here. The guy obviously had some issues, and if he wasn't in the system already, he needs to be. Just like when we eject a coach from a game, the coach has done it to himself, we're just pointing to the exit.

I watched the video. PU was very un-emphatic with his safe call. Safe meaning no catch on the strike? Safe meaning no tag by F2? Very hard to tell. F2 gave himself away a little bit by turning to throw to 1B -- he knew that he didn't tag BR. Hard to tell what the other umpires were doing from the video. Lots of discussion about whether or not there are base-running awards here for F2 sticking the ball in his pocket. This is definitely a no-call situation. Are you really going to be the umpire who says, "This isn't quite crazy enough, let me find the shi--iest end of the shi--iest stick I can find and grab it right now." The only learning to get from this situation is (IMO), make sure you're clear when you are PU and you have an U3K. PU could have been clearer, and he contributed to this by his lack of clarity.

For situations like this -- does MLB ever communicate to teams what happened? Is there follow-up? Sometimes there are stories about NFL contacting teams with regards to officiating issues from previous games -- how does that happen in MLB ? Would be *very* interested to see what MLB said / says about this.

Sort of begs the question why wasn't German ejected against the Twins?

@Jimurray, it is legal under those rules or is the rule ignored or de-emphasized? I've called this before on pitchers ( NFHS rules ), but I call it only in situations like @BLWizzRanger describes -- the pitcher isn't pausing or hesitating but rather he's coming to a dead stop and freezing before continuing his motion.

BlueClue: If you're the UIC -- I hope you understand that you should *never* engage AC's over anything. In a game like the one you've described, it's hard enough to deal with the two HC's. By allowing the HT AC to conference with you and your partner between innings, you've told the other ACs that they an now engage the umpires too. The only correct response to a question from an AC is, "you gotta check with your HC. If HC has a question, I'll go over it with HC. "

Buh-bye.

I'm seeing a theme here...

Larry Gallagher had personally worked with hundreds of umpires throughout Minnesota, teaching youth umpires in clinics, mentoring senior umpires for many years. Larry started umpiring in 1956 -- i wasn't even born until 1964. Larry conducted the first umpiring clinic I attended 21 years ago -- I was the only adult in a gym with 25 other new umpires. He also was at the last umpiring clinic I attended in September. His wife had parked his wheelchair at the fence, and he commented to the presenters several times. Like always, he was spot on and 100% focused on important details that make all of us better. Larry was the umpire that all of us aspire to be. Larry Gallagher passes away SABR biography of Larry Gallagher Not gonna lie, I'm more than a little heartbroken today. I was going to post the GoFundMe for Larry's medical expenses and memorials, but I wasn't sure whether or not it was allowed in the forum.