Did I blow this?

[capnumpire]

Last night 15yo Babe Ruth game.

Runner on first 0 outs,

Pitcher takes his signs while not on his plate ( he was stradling the plate "with" the ball )then starts to come to a set after receiving his signs and throws to 1st, runner safe, he never put his foot in front of the pitchers plate.

I balk him and send the runner to second. Needless to say the defense went beserk.

My reasoning for the balk was that the pitcher was beginning his pitching motion and it was purely an intent to deceive the runner.He had brought his hands together but had not come to a complete stop. It even caught my partner off guard but he agreed with me that there was an intent to deceive.

Rule 8.05 (g), the pitcher makes "any" motion naturally associated with his pitch while he is "not" touching ( he wasn't) the pitchers plate.

I'm pretty confident I made the right call and stood my ground while the defensive coach argued. I sat him down pretty quick and got on with the game and there were no more problems.

What do you think?

Thanks in advance;

Mark OB

[Stan W.]

thats what we used to call an "EASY CHICKEN"....................

BALK..... BALK....BALK

[yawetag]

What do you think?

As given, it sounds like a balk to me.

[Umpire in Chief]

Good call. Not as easy a call as it might seem as sometimes it's difficult to judge if the pitcher is engaged or not.

[Rich Ives]

Last night 15yo Babe Ruth game.

Runner on first 0 outs,

Pitcher takes his signs while not on his plate ( he was stradling the plate "with" the ball )then starts to come to a set after receiving his signs and throws to 1st, runner safe, he never put his foot in front of the pitchers plate.

Are you sure he was just stradling?

He doesn't have to put his foot in front of the plate, he only has to be in contact. He could be on the back side with the "inside" side of his foot touching the back edge of the pitcher's plate and be legal. It would look funny, but it would be legal.

Also, he can attampt a pick at any time prior to coming set. And no stop is required on a pick, only on a pitch.

Deceit isn't illegal unless it violates a rule.

Just checking.

[capnumpire]

Thanks for the input guys!

Rich, he was not in contact with the plate. I don't know what he was trying to gain from this but he was certainly violating 8.05 (g). Although, I admit, I wasn't sure what at the time, just that he was doing something wrong.

My partner was just back from foot surgery so he was a bit rusty and I just finished 6 weeks of 12U ball on the small diamond so I was a little overwhelmed being back on the big field. Everything else was fine, rotations, signals, base coverage, all but this one play. It didn't affect the outcome either so that was good.

Thanks again guys, my off season work will certainly include a Balk video so I will be much better next year.

Mark OB

[PeteBooth]

Last night 15yo Babe Ruth game.

Runner on first 0 outs,

Pitcher takes his signs while not on his plate ( he was stradling the plate "with" the ball )

Forget about what transpired after-wards.

Rule 8.01 was violated. F1 shall take his signs from F2 while IN CONTACT with the pitcher's plate.

In OBR there is no penalty it's a do not do that.

Babe Ruth I believe is OBR based. At that point you should have called TIME and warned F1 that he MUST take his signs while in contact with the rubber.

In FED this is a balk, HOWEVER, even in FED I would tell F1 to make certain he takes his signs properly. The next time a balk would be called.

Pete Booth

[capnumpire]

Thanks Pete, I'll figure this game out before too long!

Thanks again

Mark OB

[JaxRolo]

Forget about what transpired after-wards.

Rule 8.01 was violated. F1 shall take his signs from F2 while IN CONTACT with the pitcher's plate.

In OBR there is no penalty it's a do not do that.

Babe Ruth I believe is OBR based. At that point you should have called TIME and warned F1 that he MUST take his signs while in contact with the rubber.

In FED this is a balk, HOWEVER, even in FED I would tell F1 to make certain he takes his signs properly. The next time a balk would be called.

Pete Booth

Thanks for bringing this up! I thought it was a balk in OBR/Babe Ruth.

So what happens after you warn and he does it again? Balk/Ejection?

[calablue]

Thanks for bringing this up! I thought it was a balk in OBR/Babe Ruth.

So what happens after you warn and he does it again? Balk/Ejection?

I don't see how a balk could be called.....it is not a balk. BUT you could EJ him after you have already warned him not to do that.

[Rich Ives]

So what happens after you warn and he does it again? Balk/Ejection?

It's not a balk. What's left?

[PeteBooth]

Thanks for bringing this up! I thought it was a balk in OBR/Babe Ruth.

So what happens after you warn and he does it again? Balk/Ejection?

In OBR it's NOT a balk. If F1 continues to take signs while not in contact with the pitcher's plate then you EJ F1.

In FED it IS a balk, but as mentioned even in FED I would warn the FIRST time. If he does it again then you balk him.

Pete Booth

[JaxRolo]

In OBR it's NOT a balk. If F1 continues to take signs while not in contact with the pitcher's plate then you EJ F1.

In FED it IS a balk, but as mentioned even in FED I would warn the FIRST time. If he does it again then you balk him.

Pete Booth

Thanks Pete. Got it.

[moblue]

If this game was playing by Jr. Babe Rules, then there is no ej for violation of 8.01. Their rulebook states:

OFFICIAL BASEBALL RULE 8.01 (ALL DIVISIONS) - The pitcher must take signs from the catcher, while standing on the rubber. PENALTY -- After a warning by the umpire, the pitcher, on the next offense, shall be removed from the mound as a pitcher for the remainder of the game.

I think this penalty is better than an ej because the player gets to stay in the game, just not in the same position.