The Hidden Ball Trick

 
With bases loaded and no outs, the defensive coach calls “time” to visit his pitcher (as well as visit with all his other infielders). After the conference ends, the runners return to their bases, the pitcher gets on the rubber, and the batter, catcher, and umpire all get in the proper place – so the plate umpire signals and calls “play”.
 
The runners take their leads. At that point, the first baseman tags R1 (since the first baseman had taken the ball from the coach during the coach's conference). This looks like a well-executed “hidden ball trick”. The defense wants an out. The offense wants a balk (since the pitcher was on the rubber without the ball). 
 
What is the call?
 
Call
As we discussed in class over the winter, in order for the ball to be made "live", there are numerous criteria that must be met. In the situation below, it appeared that all the criteria were met, but the umpires (I was one of them) were mistaken. The pitcher was not on the rubber with the ball in one of his hands. While the plate umpire called and signaled "play", the ball was never "live" -- therefore the runner cannot be put-out nor can the pitcher balk. The umpires called "that's nothing" and moved on.