High School Balk Warning.....Say What????

[SoCal Lurker]

. . . There is no "Must Slide" rule and no league may create one. No league may modify Rule 7.08(a-3).

. . . and yet, year after year, in league after league, they institute these illegal rules with no clue. The league I was recently UIC of had one of these types of rules in every division. When I told them I would instruct my umpires to ignore any/all league-created 'must slide' rules, they were pretty upset until I told them we could lose our LL charter over it.

Of course, the 'must-slide' rule myth still permeates that league; I did my best to kill the beast, but it . . . just . . . wouldn't . . . . . . die.

Had a recent PONY game (Mustang - that's 9-10 year olds), where a player on my son's team was called out because he avoided the catcher instead of sliding. I asked the ump (its pretty low key) if the rule wasn't side or avoid. He said he's been calling must slide if there is a play for a couple of years and must be what the league wants. (Being new to ONY, I looked -- rule is written "slide or avoid." So be it . . . it's 9 and 10 year olds.)

[mstaylor]

Check the local rules, many leagues add it themselves. I always told every league my son played in that wanted to add a must slide rule, hope you have good insurance because I would own everything each board member owned. I am not a supporter of frivolous law suits but sliding is the most dangerous thing players do. How the devil can you require them to do that. The logic is to avoid injuries from collisions they want you to slide. In 36 yrs in youth sports I have had maybe a handfull of bumps and bruises from colliding players, NEVER a broken bone. I have seen many broken bones, a couple of dislocated joints and some sprains from slides. I even saw a guy, an adult, that broke his leg bad enough that it affected his ability to work for several years. So let's look at the logic, bumps and bruises if done legally, or broken or dislocated bones if improperly required to slide.

[SinCityBlue]

He says the umpire called a Balk on F1 and then told the catcher to go out and tell F1 what he did wrong.

The runner on 3rd starts for Home and the Umpire tells him to go back to 3rd.

The only thing I can see is if F1 was close to balking (such as being really close to not making a complete stop), so the PU sent out F2 to warn him. However, PU shouldn't have called it a balk; and if R3 is advancing home, PU must have called it.

First of all, if you see a balk, call a balk...and if you DO call a balk, and there is a runner on third base, he scores, end of story; There is no warnings, etc. You're not the pitchers teacher, you're not the coach, you're the umpire! You can't call a balk and then make the advancing runner go back because you decided to give a warning to the ptcher. The runner gets the base, end of story. You may have mis-read NFHS rule book Section 6-3 PENALTY. Maybe you misinterpreted that rule..

Secondly, any umpire can call a balk, you don't have to be the the base guy to call it, plate guy can call it if he see's it; However, yes it is the base guys JOB to watch for balks and illegal pitches, along with pick off attempts, etc. whether in the A, B or C positions. I've called many balks from the working area and the "A" position.