Legal or Illegal Pickoff

[GatorBoy]

I need a rule interpretation that perhaps may be a myth that I grew up with and don't fully understand. The play that I saw occur the other night was this. A runner was on 1B. A lefty pitcher was on the mound. The firstbaseman was NOT holding the runner on. In fact, he was playing further off the line than the runner taking the lead. The runner was about 4-5 paces off the bag, and the first baseman was about 7-8 paces off playing in a defensive position and infront of the bag closer to homeplate. A pickoff occured by the pitcher throwing to the 1B off the line (NOT at the bag). In my opinion I felt this was a balk. With a runner on 1B I had always thought that the pitcher must either deliver the ball home, or to a player recieving the ball AT the base; specifically 1B. Just to note, I don't believe this applies to 2B or 3B because you do not have to throw the ball to those bases; so yes you could throw to the SS b/w 2B and 3B not on the bag if the runner took off. However on 1B I thought it was different. With the 1B playing SO far off the line it was obvious it wasn't a bad throw, but rather a disception to get the runner out by not covering the bag. There was never an attempt by the 1B to make a move back to the bag to recieve the throw. In fact the throw was in front of the runner and he taged him running back to 1B.


I believe there is a rule that says you can not throw to an unoccupied base, so at some point you have thrown too far in front of the runner for that rule to be applied. I'm not suggesting my situation fits that rule, but I am suggesting that you can't just arbitrarly throw to a fielder. For example, a pitcher can't throw to 3B with a runner on 2B because he thinks he is stealing. That is throwing to an unoccupied base.


Anyhow, I also want to point out that the pitchers move was good. No fakes, twiches, etc... and it was a straight step to 1B, except the throw was sidearm to the first baseman off the line and it was in front of the runner.


Is this a balk?


Thanks,


GatorBoy

[PetroGuy]

Of course this is always at the judgement of the umpires, but my understanding of the ruling is that it would be a balk. The pitcher (while in contact with the pitcher's plate) has to step directly towards a base and throw directly to that base. The fielder is not the base. This applies to ALL bases if the pitcher is in contact (if the pitcher steps off, then it is different of course). The difference between 1B and 2B/3B is that the pitcher doesn't have to actually throw the ball to that base, they can step and fake a throw.

However, I have seen this numerous times in youth ball and it is seldom called until you get to the older levels.