Rule question: Deception during a fake.throw

I understand about deception, thanks in great part to many of your posts. But this one just seemed so bizarre, I guess I just thought there had to be something wrong. It was like when my turkey son decided to play 3rd with a catcher's mitt. It was so ridiculous, everyone assumed it had to be against the rules, but no one was sure which one.

Heck, I don't even understand why the kid wouldn't have the ball in his hand! To tell the truth, in that split second before he turned and threw to 1st, the thought of the hidden ball trick crossed my mind.

That bit in 8.05(c) just struck me as one of those things that could be like whether or no a batter attempted a bunt. I would be happy if they just left the part out about "practically the same motion". What that means to different people is probably up for debate someplace. Then to say its "obviously an attempt to deceive the runner at 1st base" even makes it worse.

I guess overall we're pretty lucky that the umps do as good a job sifting through this junk as they do!

BTW, I don't know if I mentioned this, but I finally got a ruling from our state rules interpreter on the courtesy runner thing. Its official. The CR gets credit for any SB, CS, and runs!

Ya know, maybe its because I've read that rule so many times lately that I understand how the CR is supposed to be used, but its unbelievable how many coaches are ignorant about it! Just yesterday in a tournament game under FED rules, our coach sent the player who had made the last out in as a CR for the catcher.

Of course I just sat there because it isn't my place to say anything, but all the opposing coach did was ask the ump if they were using CRs in the tournament. When the ump said yes, that was the end of it. I mean that kid had just grounded out on a close play not 30 seconds earlier, so the guy had to know he was in the lineup which made him an illegal runner.

I honestly think these coaches have a big problem understanding the magnitude of the job they have. There's so much more to coaching than making up a lineup, calling pitches for the pitcher and giving the offensive signals.

Oh well! I guess we can't cure all the ills of the world, can we?