Satch's "hesitation Pitch"

[portobob]

Anyone who saw Satchel Paige deliver fastballs had to be impressed. Well past his prime when he came over to the Browns from Cleveland, Paige was still awesome. Night games really showcased his fastball. It came in like a white streak. Paige had a new wrinkle he started with the Browns. It was the "Hesitation Pitch". The mechanics were that he delayed the pitch for an instant when his left foot came thru the windup. The pitch confounded batters already jumpy looking at his "High Hard One". He embarassed lots of good hitters with it.

[E.Banks#14]

From the Oct. 11, 1948 New York Times:
That old cutie Satchel Paige discovered in his first world series game that tricks he'd been getting away with in a quarter century of play in Negro ball just don't work in the big show. Umpire George Barr had to warn him about wetting his fingers and sneaking through a spitter. Then Umpire Bill Grieve snapped him up on a hesitation pitch and ruled it a balk. But Ole Satch at least retired the side, which was more than his predecessors could do.

From the Aug. 2, 1951 New York Times:
Protest Paige 'Hesitation Pitch'
BOSTON, Aug. 1 (AP) -- Manager Steve O'Neill of the Red Sox has protested the Browns' 8 to 6 victory last night, claiming Satchel Paige committed a balk when he struck out a Sox pinch-hitter with the bases filled. Paige just chuckled down to the bottom of his oversized shoes. He said his toss was legal and called it his "hesitation pitch."

About the pitch, Joe DiMaggio said, "Damndest change-up pitch I ever saw."

[Williamsburg2599]

So was it,or wasn't a balk???I've always wondered that.

[wamby]

During Paige's only World Series appearance, Mel Allen said in his broacast that he never saw a pitcher with as many styales of delivery as Paige.

In game five of the 1948 World Series the umpires zeroed in on Paige as soon as he threw his first pitch.

[E.Banks#14]

So was it,or wasn't a balk???I've always wondered that.
Well, I guess for some umpires it was, and for some it wasn't. Balks are often so borderline that they end up being judgement calls.