[PeteBooth]

Originally posted by SanDiegoSteve

have been reading old archived discussions about incorporating PBUC, Jaska/Roder, and Jim Evans interpretations into the OBR book in the future.

My question is.....WHEN?

For the majority of us amateur umpires it really doesn't matter what MLB does, because we do not use PURE OBR rules anyway.

In addition, the OBR rule-book is boring. When I first started umpiring I did not think I would be umpiring for long because I fell asleep during the rules portion. The instructor put in a tape, turned off the lights and the next thing I knew someone was waking me up.

IMO, the majority of us learn through examples and that's what the reference materials do for us. They EXPLAIN the rules using examples.

Also, even if MLB does in fact re-write the rule-book it still has to go through the players association. MLB is a DIFFERENT game. Case and point:

About 5 yrs ago or there abouts, MLB issued a memo to the umpires to start calling more balks because they felt F1's were getting away with too much. In the forst 6 months of that year more balks were called then in the previous year.
The players association got involved and basically said "this is OUR game and go back to the old way of calling things" if you want to umpire in OUR league.

In summary, for the majority of us, the MLB rule book is a moot point. For me personally Papa C's book is a great source because I call ball using more than one rule code.

Most leagues even Legion uses a FPSR and a No Malicious Contact rule. No matter what MLB does I do not think they will adopt SAFETY rules which most of us are used to.

The interpretations that matter most are what the NCAA writes and the FED writes because those rule codes are what we as amateurs deal with on a daily bases.

The problem is in leagues that "borrow" the OBR rule-book and try and apply it to the amateur game. It's like oil and water - they do not mix.

The materials that you quoted are reference materials that explain the rules. No matter what is written there will always be some "grey areas" that we rely on expert opinions.

Pete Booth