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In the Chicago area, you will likely be assigned playoff games with a partner or two that you have never seen before. As our different groups focus on enforcing rules differently, you see Fed rules get destroyed. The batter's box, safety slide, equipment check, roster check (for Sectional, Super-Sectional and Finals) are summarily dismissed by some groups. I get out there and during pre-game tell the coaches that we will be enforcing all rules that will be of consequence during the playoffs. You would think I said that I had eight eyes. "Our guys don't call that." "No one enforces that anymore." "The guys we see all season say something different."
That is why the IHSA went to a uniform instructional clinic that mandates attendance by all registered officials. Yet, we still get guys that say that they won't enforce rules because they consider them petty. As I suggested earlier, ask your state rule interpreter if you have a question. Each state values these rules differently. Some areas have dismissed the 10-run rule, while others have adopted a wood bat approach to the BESR problem. We will not have a consensus on the one that started this thread. Call what will be supported by your program, association or state. This will certainly be addressed by the NFSHS in the near future since we have some members that have already alerted them to this debacle. Hopefully, logic will prevail and we will reward the defense for heads up play and not award bases for a defect in the mitt.
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