Jim Evans balk video

[Senor Azul]

In a thread in our Rules forum Mr. Jimurray posted a very short excerpt from Jim Evans' famous balk video. I had never seen this video before so I thought I would try YouTube to see if any more of the video is available to the public. I searched the phrase Jim Evans balk video and much to my surprise the whole video came up immediately.

So all of you fellow umpires please check it out. It's about 61 minutes long and it's pretty good quality. And best of all it's free. Even though it's old the only outdated part is about the third to first move. Apparently the video was posted a year ago and has only had about 375 views.

[concertman1971]

This is a great video. When I started umpiring in Nor Cal, the HS group showed this video to all 1st and 2nd year guys every year. 

[maven]

 

[Senor Azul]

In June of 2017 we had a thread in the Collegiate forum that asked about whether a pitcher's free foot had to land behind the rubber on a pickoff to second base--

Gaining Ground toward 2nd

The consensus was that it was not required. But one of our members, Mr. MidAmUmp, proved that NCAA did indeed consider it to be a balk when the free foot didn't land on the second base side of the rubber. 

Then another member, Mr. Mooseloop, told us that the Jim Evans balk video stated that OBR also ruled the same. He was indeed correct as I found that info at about the 31:36 mark in the video. Here's what the graphic stated:

If the pitcher's free foot does not land behind the rubber when throwing or faking to 2nd, he has balked.

We didn't establish the same rule for FED though. Perhaps Mr. lawump could help us with that.

 

[Senor Azul]

Our resident experts have told us on at least four times over the years that it is okay for a pitcher to assume the set position when off the rubber; even though the balk rule actually says that a pitcher cannot make any motion associated with his pitch when he is not touching the pitcher's plate we were told that we were misconstruing the rule.

The Jim Evans video tells us at about the 38:30 mark that a pitcher cannot assume either pitching position while off the rubber. It is a balk if a pitcher fakes a pitching position.

 

 

[Jimurray]

28 minutes ago, Senor Azul said:

Our resident experts have told us on at least four times over the years that it is okay for a pitcher to assume the set position when off the rubber; even though the balk rule actually says that a pitcher cannot make any motion associated with his pitch when he is not touching the pitcher's plate we were told that we were misconstruing the rule.

The Jim Evans video tells us at about the 38:30 mark that a pitcher cannot assume either pitching position while off the rubber. It is a balk if a pitcher fakes a pitching position.

 

 

Those experts might interpret a motion associated with a pitch as the TOP point. As we can see a pitcher can stand astride the rubber or behind the rubber but starting to come set or making a preliminary windup adjustment is considered part of his pitching motion for this rule and is a balk. One deke I've seen is F1 astride the rubber and leaning in for the sign. If he slides forward to contact while still leaning in it is nothing. If he starts to raise to a set it is a pitching motion and a balk.

[BigBlue4u]

On 7/8/2023 at 2:27 AM, Senor Azul said:

n a thread in our Rules forum Mr. Jim urray posted a very short excerpt from Jim Evans' famous balk video. I had never seen this video before so I thought I would try YouTube to see if any more of the video is available to the public. I searched the phrase Jim Evans balk video and much to my surprise the whole video came up immediately.

FYI, the pitcher in that video is Steve Mattingly a veteran D1 umpire from Arizona.