Spirit of throwing to base rule on a pickoff.
I'm curious on this one. Does anyone know the history behind pitchers being required to throw to a base on a pickoff play? Major league teams have been getting really creative with pickoff plays lately and a lot of them involve the first baseman pushing the limits of how far off he can be, forcing umpires to make some really tough judgment calls.
Most other rules, even other balks, seem to at least have some justification behind them, but this one kind of baffles me. I even tried ChatGPT first and I'm not buying what it's selling. Does anyone know if there's any real history here, or is it just one of those "that's the rules of the game." It doesn't seem like it would materially change the game significantly if pitchers could throw to a first baseman playing a few feet off.