balk with no batter

[UmpTTS43]

I hope you don't have to rewrite your entire curriculum now. Hope you have a full house. Teach em good.

[MidAmUmp]

No. I don't teach it, just used it. I know up until 2010 it was used.

[UmpTTS43]

Sarcasm sometimes doesn't translate well. Ba zinga.

[mstaylor]

I think the problem was there a running debate on whether holding the hand up was no pitch or time. There was no written guidance so it was finally written in.

[MidAmUmp]

I think the problem was there a running debate on whether holding the hand up was no pitch or time. There was no written guidance so it was finally written in.

I don't think it was ever actually written, but was discussed and understood, don't pitch, but do anything else. I have some old mechanics items (handouts/cds) where it is mentioned.

When I first got involved with college baseball and heard about this mechanic I hated it. As I started moving up, the more I liked it. Now they've apparently done away with it. Figures...

[mstaylor]

That's what I mean, it was never written down, it was a longtime debate whether it was a no pitch or time. Only recently was it written it definitively. So when you learned it, you learned it as how it was done in your area. I learned differently because that's how it was done in my area. Neither was wrong until somebody higher up than us wrote it down.

[BalkHawk]

from what I gather, I made a mistake because under FED rules I should have balked him for the way he joined his hands without continuing to pitch, before he even could disengage improperly. BTW I was Field Umpire so I didn't have any charge over the batter being in the box or the pitcher coming set. I knew the infield fly was on and I knew the pitcher was engaged with a live ball.

in fact, one might be able to argue that calling time would have been taking an opportunity to coach the pitcher rather than enforce the rules.