Baseball hidden ball tag out??

Question

i saw this in mr 3000. the bernie mac film where he plays a milwaukee brewers player. and there this one game where he pretends to giv the ball to the pitcher. he goes back to first base and den tags the guy out wiv the ball wen the guy took a few steps away from the bag. does that work in real life?

Answer 1

I am going to add something to the first two posters.  The pitcher cannot be on OR astride the rubber without the ball or it is a balk.  Therefore, the pitcher does not even need to be touching the rubber for it to be considered a balk.  Also if the pitcher is on the mound near the rubber and giving the impression that he is about to take his place on the rubber, it can also be adjudged a balk.  A balk is when the pitcher attempts to deceive a baserunner.  This play is classic deception therefore in most cases it ends up being a balk.  In the movie "Rookie of the Year" he did indeed balk.    

Answer 2

Marty Barret used to do that trick fairly often when he played second base for the Red Sox.  

Answer 3

The first guy gave a good explanation, but I'm going to add something.

The pitcher cannot be on the rubber at the time of the play. If he is then it is considered a balk. The pitcher cannot step onto the rubber unless he is ready to pitch, and if he doesn't have the ball then he obviously is not ready and the result is a balk (a balk is any move by the pitcher that can be considered to deceive the runner, and all runners get to advance one base as a result)

Answer 4

It can work as long as the ball is not transfered during 'time'.  If the 1st baseman walks over to the pitcher and without calling time and recieves the ball then it's a legal play.  Usually when theres a player at 1st and the 1st baseman walks over to the pitcher he will call time to make sure the guy on 1st base doesn't take off.  I've seen it happen in MLB a few times in my life, not a lot tho.   There was also a scene in 'Rookie of the year' where that happens.

Answer 5

A pitcher can not step on the pitching rubber without the ball or make any other moves with the intend to deceive the runner, that would be a balk. If the pitcher stays completely of the mound and just stands there the first baseman can have the ball in his possession and tag the runner out if there is no time out and the runner is off the bag.  A good base runner will stay on the bag and not take a lead until the pitcher goes to the rubber.

Answer 6

i dont really no but they did that in rookie of the year u no the one with the boy who broke his arm and be came a great pitcher