Intentional balk

The intentional balk is a tactic used in baseball. It involves the pitcher deliberately balking in order to move a baserunner from second base to third base, in order to prevent sign stealing.^[1]

Bob Wickman, who performed an intentional balk as a member of the 2005 Cleveland Indians

Early history

Early instances of intentional balks appear to have occurred for reasons other than concern about sign stealing.

A 1925 newspaper article related a story from umpire Bill Brennan, whereby in 1924 a pitcher with Birmingham, while pitching against Memphis (presumed to be the Birmingham Barons and Memphis Chickasaws of the Southern Association), committed a balk with runners on first and second with one out, thus advancing the runners to second and third.^[2] After then retiring the side on two short fly balls to outfielders, the pitcher remarked to the umpire that he had balked intentionally, so he could alter his pitching position to a windup, rather than pitching from the stretch.^[2]

An intentional balk was attempted in the 1956 Claxton Shield, a multi-team tournament in Australia. Victoria and South Australia were contesting the final game of the tournament, and the standings were such that the outcome of the tournament could be determined by run differential. After playing to a tie and going into extra innings, South Australia held a 5–4 lead entering the bottom of the 12th inning; however, they knew that a one-run victory would not be enough to win the title on run differential.^[3] When Victoria had a runner on third base, South Australia attempted to allow that runner to score, in hopes of forcing another inning and then winning by more than a single run. After a failed attempt at throwing the ball out of play, the South Australia pitcher deliberately balked to try and send the runner home.^[3] However, the umpires ended the game and awarded it as a 9–0 forfeit win for Victoria on the basis of South Australia bringing the game into disrepute.^[3][4]

A newspaper article in 1976 noted that an intentional balk occurring during an American Legion Baseball game in Pennsylvania—with a thunderstorm approaching, the batting team started to swing at every pitch in an attempt to end the inning quickly; in response, the pitcher intentionally threw to the wrong base (thus committing a balk) in order to advance a baserunner to help prolong the inning.^[5]

In 1987, a Canadian team in the New Brunswick Senior Baseball League utilized two intentional balks in an attempt to allow the batting team to score one run,^[6] for run differential reasons akin to the above noted 1956 Claxton Shield incident. After a subsequent pickoff attempt was intentionally thrown out of play, the umpires awarded a forfeit victory to the batting team.^[6]

Major League Baseball

Bob Geren

Craig Kimbrel

Intentionally committing a balk has occurred on rare occasion in Major League Baseball (MLB), due to concern about sign stealing.

In one known instance, Cleveland Indians pitcher Bob Wickman performed an intentional balk on May 3, 2005.^[7] The game play-by-play account at Retrosheet notes, "Wickman balked intentionally so he would not be distracted by possibility of sign stealing from runner on 2nd".^[8] Wickman confirmed that he committed the balk intentionally, due to concern about the runner at second base, Michael Cuddyer, stealing signs.^[9]

Subsequent use, nearly 15 years later, resulted from Los Angeles Dodgers coach Bob Geren suggesting it during a spring training session as a way to prevent sign stealing.^[10] While non-electronic forms of sign stealing are legal in baseball, Geren stated it was an insurance mechanism so that a baserunner on second base would not be able to steal the signs and communicate them to the batter.^[10] After Geren raised the idea in spring training, it was executed by Dodgers pitcher Kenley Jansen against the Chicago Cubs on June 15, 2019. In the ninth inning with the Cubs having a runner on second base and the Dodgers holding a 5–3 lead, Jansen indicated he intended to balk and tapped his foot repeatedly on the rubber to force the umpires to call a balk and move the runner to third base.^[11]

An intentional balk occurred at least twice during the 2021 season: on May 26 when the Cubs' Craig Kimbrel intentionally balked against the Pittsburgh Pirates to stop sign stealing in the ninth inning (the Cubs held a three-run lead at the time),^[12] and on September 6 when Collin McHugh of the Tampa Bay Rays intentionally balked against the Boston Red Sox in the 10th inning to avoid the runner at second base being able to steal signs (the Rays held a two-run lead at the time).^[13]

In 2022, MLB introduced PitchCom, an optional wireless communication system used by players in place of visible signs.^[14] In the absence of visible signs, the opportunity for a runner at second base to engage in sign stealing is removed, which in turn makes use of an intentional balk to advance such a runner unnecessary. However, PitchCom has not been used by all pitchers in all games, and Kimbrel again intentionally balked during the 2022 season, in a game on May 17 as a member of the Dodgers, against the Arizona Diamondbacks (the Dodgers held a 7–5 lead at the time).^[15][16]