An unnecessary delay is indeed a balk, but what the pitcher did is not an
unnecessary delay and it is not a balk. The umpire erred. There is plenty
of documentation in the authoritative literature that a pitcher can feint to
2B or 3B without throwing if runners are present at the bases feinted to,
and there is no balk. Furthermore, when we're talking R2 and/or R3, the
pitcher need not throw "directly to the base" like he has to with an R1 at
1st base; the professional interpretation is that if he throws to F6 or F4
who are closer to the base being feinted to than any other base, then that
satisfies the "step/feint/throw to a base" requirement. So, in the example
you gave, if F6 had been closer to 3B than he was to 2B (unlikely) then a
balk could have been called under balk rule 8.05(d), feinting/throwing to an
unoccupied base.

8.05(h) is the balk rule prohibiting the pitcher from unnecessarily delaying
the game; however, it is simply not proper to invoke that rule in the
circumstances you described.


-----Original Message-----
From: naumpires [mailto:naumpires@...]
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 6:02 PM
To: llumpires@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [llumpires] Delay of Game Balk


LLB Seniors (basically OBR):

R2, 1 out. F1 tries a pickoff, but no one covers the bag. rather than
holding the ball F1 throws to F6, who is not "dogging" the runner, but
is at his normal position. BU called a "Balk" for unnecessary delay of
game.

I say he should have penalized him 5 yards and a loss of down, because
that's not a baseball rule.

What do you think ?

(apologies if this gets posted twice - 1st one seemed to get eaten)