[Jake Cooper]

...of my local umpire association, that is. My favorite post of anything that I have read on the net is Dave Hensley's, particularly the following.

"Because even though these umpires are in fact using an amalgam of two different rules codes, if you ask them directly they'll swear on their mothers' souls that they call FED for high school, and OBR for summer ball."

I move around a lot and have been in five associations and Dave has the nailed the truth to the wall for them all. I have most appreciated Rich Fronheiser's articles on the migrant ump, since that is my predicament. I read all his stuff but he does not contribute enough to the discussion boards. Hint Hint.

When I started umpiring, I knew that I would have to learn new mechanics and procedures as I moved from place to place. I wish I had had Rich's articles 7 years ago to help me. What I didn't know was that I was going to have to learn new FED rules each time I moved. Every time I move, my new umpire association "swears on their mothers' souls" that they call straight FED rules and each time it is a lot different from what came before. The previous group that I was in had a different set of rules for each partner! And all of them swore that they were calling straight FED. Can someone tell me where these 50 odd sets of FED rules can be purchased? I have only been able to come up with one version in print. That version only vaguely resembles what I actually have to call.