Balk Essay

A detailed Summary of Balk Essay

During the play of any baseball game you will hear four-letter words that will arouse both tame and violent responses. Some of these words are traditional baseball vocabulary, some are obscenities called out from the crowd. None, however, cause as much confusion and anger as the mysterious word "Balk." When stated this four-letter word that can stop anybody dead in his tracks. There is no rule in baseball more widely misunderstood today than the balk. So what exactly is a balk?

A balk is defined in the dictionary as a verb meaning: to stop short and refuse to go on. Specifically in baseball, a balk means to make and illegal motion before pitching, allowing base runners to advance one base. In order for this rule to make sense an illegal motion must be defined. There many "illegal motions" a pitcher can make to cause a balk.

One should understand the basic rules for pitching before they can realize what a balk is. In order to throw a pitch correctly the pitcher must have his planted foot touching the rubber plate located on top of the mound at all times. The pitcher must come to a complete stop or pause in his windup before he delivers the pitch. The pitcher is also required to step towards his

After understanding the basic rules of pitching one now can fully understand the penalties pitching incorrectly. The penalty of throwing an illegal pitch is the balk. There are three basic categories of the balk. They are deceptive, mechanical, and penal. Basically all balks can fall into one of these three categories.

Coaches, players, and fans alike get up set whenever a balk is called. The trouble with a balk is not that the umpire doesn't know when to call one. It is the umpire actually calling the balk. Some umpires are too timid to call a balk when they see one, so they just let it slide. When the umpire finally calls the balk, he will get yelled at for not calling it earlier. This is why so much commotion occurs when one is called.

There are two main effects of a balk being called. If there are no base runners on base then the batter will be awarded a ball when a balk is called. If there are base runners then each runner is allowed to advance one bag if a balk were to be called. It is possible for a base runner to score if he is on third base at the time a balk is called

Mechanical error is the second major category of the balk. This error occurs when the pitcher isn't trying to deceive anyone, he is just performing his mechanics incorrectly. Specific examples of a mechanical error are accidentally dropping the baseball while standing on the rubber, not coming to a complete stop while pitchi

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Approximate Word count = 963
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English