Last Thursday night, plate umpire Joe West called an illegal pitch (and consequently ball four) on a 3-2 pitch from Pirates starter Oliver Perez to Reggie Sanders of the Cardinals, leading off the second inning. Lloyd McClendon did his Interminable Argument Dance, even though Perez and the bench had earlier been warned about the illegal delivery. The Pirates played the rest of the game under protest; they won 3-2, making the protest moot. The aftereffects of the call, though, remain.


Welcome back, everyone, to the Land Of Selectively Applied Rules. Today's rule is Rule 8.01, "Legal Pitching Delivery".

Rule 8.01 specifies two legal deliveries, the Windup Position and the Set Position. (Those of you who, like me, were pitchers in little league will be familiar with this stuff.) A pitcher has to commit to one position or another when stepping on the pitcher's plate (the rubber), before assuming his delivery position; for the Set Position, you position your arm at your side, and for the Windup Position, you hold the ball in both hands in front of you. Doing so commits you irretrievably that position; the only way to assume the Windup Position and not pitch is to step off the rubber and throw to a base, or drop your hand to your side and step off the rubber.

We'll deal solely with the Windup Position because that's what Perez was using. Once the pitcher is in the Windup Position, any movement that is normally associated with his delivery commits him to the pitch without interruption or alteration. That's the extent of the rule against the Hesitation Pitch. The casebook for Rule 8.01 says that the Windup pitch must "be delivered in a continuous motion". That is, No Stopping.

The Hesitation Pitch was originated by Satchel Paige, who used it in lieu of a changeup (Satch didn't throw what we'd consider to be a regular change). Like any great pitch, the Hesitation Pitch works to destroy a hitter's timing; in Satch's case, he used to pause at the very top of his windup, with his foot at maximum or near-maximum height. He could pause for up to several seconds, though the pitch was most effective with a pause of a second or less, the sort of thing that can cause a batter to swing even before the pitch leave the pitcher's hand. Paige used the pitch for years, but when he joined the American League with the Browns in 1948, the pitch was almost immediately declared illegal, under Rule 8.01.

Since Paige, other pitchers have used the hesitation pitch; according to Rob Neyer, Frank Tanana tried it out many times in exhibitions, and probably used it when he felt he could get away with it. Reliever Steve Hamilton threw a pitch called the "Folly Floater", an eephus pitch with a hesitation delivery, and got away wth it for quite a while. Umpires probably were too focused on the eephus feature to worry about whether it was illegal; at any rate, it was probably considered unsporting to call such a pathetic pitch illegal.

Now Perez is using the pitch, making a double-clutch in his windup wherehe actually stops twice in his windup (at the top of the windup, and at his coiled part of the windup).

Pirates GM Dave Littlefield has now asked the Commissioner's Office for a ruling on whether Perez violates 8.01 when he "double pauses" during his wind-up. The Pirates admitting that Perez "double pauses" is in fact doubly damning, since any pause is against the rule on its face. West in fact cited Perez for stopping twice during his windup delivery.

This isn't the first time West has enforced this rule. He did the same thing to Satoru Komiyama (then of the Mets) in a spring game against the Expos; Komiyama threw some pitches with a hesitation delivery, and West (who was observing but not umpiring) later warned the pitcher his manager, Bobby Valentine, about the illegal hesitation delivery. At the time, though, Valentine was quite vocal about the selective application of Rule 8.01. Valentine is right; all kinds of pitcher rock side-to-side in their windup delivery (Valentine cited Kevin Brown, who makes a side-step in his windup that's illegal under 8.01) or come to a complete stop in their windup (I'm thinking of Steve Kline, who does this at least once every time I watch him on TV; I know there are others). It's unfortunate that the Rules Committee aren't more proactive in writing the rule book to fit the calls as made. Joe West is making the right call, but it's generating controversy because nobody can tell when the rules are going to be enforced.

All sorts of pitchers, maybe even most of them, have an illegal delivery anyway because they move their hands all over the place when settling into the windup position. This call is always let go, though, because these movements are a part of the pitcher's "natural delivery" and when the windup proper hasn't even beguin, it's harsh to call a delivery illegal.

Generally, the umpires are understandably reluctant to call a pitcher for an illegal pitch where there is no intent to deceive the hitter (as I think is the case with Kline, and certainly Brown). Whether Perez was attempting to throw off Sanders I cannot say; I didn't see the incident. However, it would cost MLB nothing, and pitchers would lose no sleep, if the rules on legal deliveries were properly enforced. Hopefully the Commissioner's Office can hand down a ruling on Perez that makes sense for all parties concerned, and hopefully we can eventually get Rule 8.01 to read as it's enforced.