Clipping:The reasons for the new delivery rule; the size of the box; balks
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| Date | Wednesday, February 9, 1887 |
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| Text | [from a column by Ward defending the new rules] In the pitching department several important changes are made. They were necessary to weed out three flagrant abuses which grew up under the loose wording of the old rules. (1) The pitcher was supposed to keep within the lines of his position while in the act of delivering the ball, yet everybody knows he constantly stepped out. (2) A rule required him to face the batter, meaning that he should not turn his back at all, but he did so at pleasure. (3) He was not to balk, and he did. (1) His right foot shall be on the rear line of the box; he shall not raise it until in the act of delivering the ball, nor make more than one step in the delivery. The reason he could step over under the old rule was becuase he was allowed a hop, skip and jump, and at the instant when he did strike out the umpire’s whole attention was taken up with the ball. He could not watch that and at the same time see the pitcher’s feet. Under the new rule the umpire sees that the pitcher’s rear foot is on the rear line, which he has ample time to do, and, seeing that, knows it will be a physical impossibility for him to strike over the forward line. The box was shorted to 5½ feet because it was believed the longest striding pitcher would not cover more than that distiance. It was desired not to place the pitcher farther away than formerly, which would have been the case if he had been placed on the rear line of a seven-foot box. If the box is too short, as some claim, it will be an easy matter to lengthen it to six feet. There is a difference of opinion between two or your correspondents as to the meaning of this section of the rule. The idfference, however, is only apparent, as I am sure the two gentlemen would find if they could meet and each illustrate what he means. The pitcher may raise his right foot in the act of delivering. But he is only allowed one step. Thereafter, after he has stepped forward with his left foot he may raise the right before the instant when the ball leaves his hand; but I don’t think he ever will because, as one of the gentlemen claims, no man in delivering the ball ever does. He gets his “purchase” from that foot on the ground. This last point, I think, is the cause of the misunderstanding. Certainly no one claims that the pitcher may jump forward with the right foot and then makde his step. Such a construction would at once defeat the purpose of this clause, which was to keep him within his position. It is obvious that in a 5½ box he would necessarily go out every time. (2) He must take his posiiton facing the batter, with both feet squarely on the ground, his left to the left of an imaginary line from his right foot to the centre of the plate. He shall hold the ball fairly in front of his body and in sight of the umpire. These provision will effetually prevent him from turning his back. (3) The adoption of the carefully-worded balk rule of the American Association, with the addition of the clause forbidding any motion calculated to deceive the runner, must certainly do away with balking. The additional clause I believe to be an essential part of the rule. Last year many pitchers made a forward motion which, from the umpire’s position, was plainly not a motion to pitch; but from the position of the runner at first base, who got a side view, the pitcher seemed to have started to pitch. On the technical ground that it was not “one of the habitual motions in pitcher,” the umpires refused to declare it a balk. It was made with the deliberate intent of deceiving the runner; it did so deceive him,an di f he was a man with any ambition to reach second he generally was caught off first. It was a sharp trick by the pticher, but it was unfair and discouraged one of the prettist features of the game. Of course, the additional cluase refered to must have a reasonable interpretation, like any other statute law. It does not prohibit a feight to throw to first, for that is perfectly legitimate. It means any motion calculated to deceive the runner into believing that the pitcher has started to pitch. |
| Source | Sporting Life |
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| Submitted by | Richard Hershberger |
| Origin | Initial Hershberger Clippings |
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