[Tim C]

Sorry to disagree with you about rules. Not to sound line Peter Osbourne, I call the rules that I am told to call by the people that pay me.

If we went with "your" definition we could not have any ground rules.

I worked a game last year that the right field foul line turned at a 90* angle at the outfield grass, went about 20' into the field and then angled back to the foul pole. Why?

There was a light fixture that was falling and they game administrators (tourney actually) ruled it a dead ball area but wanted to finish their tourney. As umpires we complied.

I have worked a league game at the end of the season where the coaches agreed that each batter would start with a count on 2 balls and 1 strike, I have umpired a game where the rain had made the main field unplayable so we went into the outfield and played with a pitching rubber laid flat on the ground, NO MOUND. If we hadn't the game could not have been played.

I have worked a game where we allowed runners for the catcher to speed up play. The league didn't have the rules we just "made it work."

I worked a double header one day that neither game went five innings but both were reported in the paper the next day as complete games (see umpire.org, Strikes & Outs for a column about that).

I understand what your post says but that ain't the way the "real world" works. We make adjustments all the time and there is NOTHING wrong with that. Your position is obviously correct to the letter of the law but is not how we really do it.

Lighten up . . . you're missing a good game.