CB w/ the call at second...

[Thunderheads]

Man, these are the toughest to call!

 

http://wapc.mlb.com/play?content_id=27685839

[JHSump]

Wow, that was a great call!  (And very tough, as you say, Thunderheads).  He deserves some pats on the back. for that one...and in general.

[mstaylor]

Everybody busts on CB, he gets quite a few tough ones right. 

[JaxRolo]

Wow got him by fractions of a second! Vehemently!

[maven]

Too bad he missed the balk.

[Thunderheads]

Too bad he missed the balk.

maven, where you watching the game?

[semper_fi_72]

 

Too bad he missed the balk.

maven, where you watching the game?

 

Balk

What Balk?????????

[maven]

No stop.

[Thunderheads]

No stop.

that's why I asked if you were watching the entire game.

 

MLB will let guys who do quirky things go as long as they do it everytime .....

[maven]

 

No stop.

that's why I asked if you were watching the entire game.

 

MLB will let guys who do quirky things go as long as they do it everytime .....

 

 

Quirky, sure. But you gotta stop with runners on.

[Thunderheads]

 

 

No stop.

that's why I asked if you were watching the entire game.

 

MLB will let guys who do quirky things go as long as they do it everytime .....

 

 

Quirky, sure. But you gotta stop with runners on.

 

In one motion, ...just Rivera....right?!

[mstaylor]

He bounced slightly at the bottom but he does stop. 

[maven]

He bounced slightly at the bottom but he does stop. 

 

Disagree. Hands are moving when the leg starts.

 

You guys see the teensiest knee buckle on a pickoff, but you're going to let this slide?

[mstaylor]

He gets to the bottom and raises slightly, then stops, then starts his leg. If you want to argue the bounce at the bottom, you have a case, no stop, I would disagree. 

[UMP45]

 

He bounced slightly at the bottom but he does stop.

 

Disagree. Hands are moving when the leg starts.

 

You guys see the teensiest knee buckle on a pickoff, but you're going to let this slide?

 Remember OUR game is called ditfferently then THEIR game!

[dumbdumb]

All high tags or tags way down the the body on a head first slide are not always safe. It depends on how far in front of the bag in the direction of the oncoming runner the fielder can get. Since he was so far out in front of the bag, this allowed for a tag further down the body than would normally be allowed right at the bag and still get the out.

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Now, for the balk situation. Here is an old article from SABR where Al Barlick quit from the lack of backing up the umpires by Warren Giles (Yes his son Bill bought the Phillies from the Carpenter's- and Warren is also famous for his statement "who needs New York" when asked if the NL would replace the Giants and Dodgers with another team on the East Coast) over the new balk rule concerning the failure of pitchers to pause.

 

"In 1963, the league mandated that the umpires crack down on balks by pitchers. Of course, this created a lot of arguments on the field. On May 4, Barlick and his crew were in Milwaukee for a game between the Chicago Cubs and the Braves, with Barlick behind the plate. Milwaukee starting pitcher Bob Shaw was called for a balk in the top of the first inning, three times in the third and again in the fifth. In the third, Billy Williams had walked and the three balks sent him around to score. In the fifth inning, after setting a record with his fifth balk of the game, Shaw walked Andre Rodgers to load the bases and then Eddie Mathews to drive in the go-ahead run for the Braves. Shaw objected to Barlicks strike zone and was ejected by the arbiter.

A week later, Barlick was quoted by Les Biederman in The Sporting News: We umps have to shoulder too much blame, yet all we do is enforce the rules. We do not write the rules, just make certain none is violated. Now everybody is on us about the balks. Our instructions are to call balks when the pitcher fails to pause in his delivery with men on base and we are following orders. What would you do if your boss told you to do something and you did not follow through? What happens to a player who fails to follow instructions from a manager? It is just as simple as that.

On June 15, 1963, his crew worked a game in Cincinnati between the Reds and the New York Mets. At 3:00 the next morning, Barlick called Fred Fleig, the secretary of the National League, and, according to various news accounts, told him: I am fed up with things and I am going to quit and go home. League President Warren Giles told reporters later that day that he had tried to contact Barlick without success but hoped that he would change his mind because he is an excellent umpire and a fine person. At the time, there was no supervisor of umpires in the league, unlike the American League, which had a supervisor. The NL umpires were dissatisfied with Giles administration and felt that Giles failed to back them up when there was a controversy.

The balk situation was one of those controversial issues. Giles had ordered the arbiters to call the rule the way it was written, and so there were well over 100 called in the first few weeks of the season. This caused Commissioner Ford Frick to convene an emergency meeting of the rules committee to reword the balk rule and bring it into conformity with standard practice. The umpires felt that Giles caused the problem and then failed to defend them once the trouble started. On June 17, Giles announced that he had spoken with Barlick, who was at his home in Springfield. Giles released a statement saying: A misunderstanding has been cleared up. I asked Barlick to spend two or three days with his family. He will rejoin his crew in Chicago on June 21. Giles refused to elaborate on the misunderstanding."

**********************************************************************************************************

Of course Luis Tiant led to the "if he does it all the time" type of interpretation.

 

This rule (complete stop or pause) was revisited in the 1987 or 1988 year with the same outcome of getting rid of the strict pause that even those sitting out in the parking lot could see. After a million balks, the rule was rescinded once again. The umpires enforced it (the rule) only to be shot down again for enforcing the rule as written.

 

http://reconditebaseball.blogspot.com/2008/08/balks-story-of-1988-major-league.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/17/sports/baseball-close-scrutiny-more-balk-calls-give-some-players-pause.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

 

Until they go back to where they care about little ball and not just the 3 run home or else, pitchers can have a field day with the spin moves, stepping to the 45 foot line etc etc because nobody wants it called and nobody who does gets backed up. They are only considered a trouble makers.

 

They actually had the jab step outlawed back when West was on Kibler's crew. They were told to call the jab step to third a balk since that meant they were stepping to 3rd rather than towards first. However, after a certain point in the year, that balk was also rescinded.

 

And of course, just like the strike zone, some umpires are better at spotting the balks than other umpires.