Giamatti’s Gift To Honeycutt & Walter
Posted by Steve Lombardi on June 10, 2009
Via Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Pitching Game Finder, there have only been 2 pitchers, since 1954, to enter a game out of the bullpen and then commit 4+ balks in the game:
Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+-----+-------------------------+ Gene Walter 1 Ind. Games Rick Honeycutt 1 Ind. Games
And, both of these games happened in 1988. Then again, that was the year of the balk.
June 11th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
I think that in 1988, if you came out of the bullpen and didn't come to a full one-second stop before throwing your first warm-up pitch, you were called for a balk. (Just kidding.) But I do remember that season, and how – especially in the beginning of the year – the calling of balks was just ridiculous. Veteran pitchers, who had been using the same move to first for years, were being called for multiple balks in a game. I'm not sure if it was just my perception, but it seemed to me that lefties were getting more balks called against them than righties (at least proportionally).
I'm going to go out on a limb again with another controversial opinion – I think that the balk rule should be eliminated. If a base runner wants to be “safe”, he can just stay on the bag. Any move the pitcher makes to “trick” the runner should be fair game; after all, when a runner breaks for second he is trying to _steal_ a base, essentially trying to cheat the defending team by getting a base his team didn’t earn by hit, walk or defensive error. So why shouldn’t a pitcher be allowed to use any means to prevent that? If the hidden ball trick by an infielder is legal (tricking the runner into thinking the ball has been tossed to the pitcher but holding onto it and tagging the runner out when he steps off the bag), why shouldn’t a balk be legal as well?
An added benefit of eliminating the balk rule I believe would be to shorten the time of games. There is an adage in baseball that “speed slows down the game.” When a fast runner gets on base, the pitcher will give more looks and throw more tosses over to first base, slowing down the next at-bat(s). Without the balk rule, most runners will stay on (or VERY close to) the bag, and pitchers will have to spend less time “holding the runners.” The mere threat of a balk-less throw to first would be enough to keep all but the best (or bravest) runners honest.
Like my view on clutch hitting, I’m sure that this will generate some well thought-out counter arguments – but isn’t that what a forum like this is all about?
June 14th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
I don't know if it should be completely eliminated, but the rule should absolutely be simplified and made more consistent. There's all these rules for what a pitcher can do when a runner is on first, but they all go out the window when a runner is on 2nd or 3rd. Makes no sense. Half the balks that get called are for some little twitch which doesn't affect the game in any way, doesn't "deceive" anyone, and which no one seems to even understand.