[IRISHMAFIA]

Ya know....when I first started working baseball (1966), I became a rules freak. Or at least I thought I was until I started moving around and talking to different umpires working different leagues at different levels. It didn't take long to find out that what I knew about the official rules of baseball was nothing next to what everyone else seemed to be telling me.

Then again, baseball rules run a full circle. Some are so vague you could write an entire new book just to cover all the possible interpretations. Then some get so scenario-specific, you need to figure out what play just occurred before you can find the correct rule to apply.

When I started playing softball, I would take my baseball knowledge and apply them to the game I was playing. It turned into constant frustration as I knew these umpires had no idea what the game was about.

So I did what I now tell other players to do, read the rule book and become an umpire. I started reading the book and it waa like light at the end of the tunnel. My first UIC once told me to stop thinking. He told me to take a play, throw the rule book up against it and see what sticks, then apply that rule.

After a few years of kicking rules, I discovered he was right. I stopped thinking and everything came to me much easier.

Before someone gets upset, I am making no accusation here. My strong suit is ASA. I have found that their rules are not so much vague as they are a "one-size-fits-all" read. Many of us, including myself, tend to read things into the rules that are not there. Why? Because it makes sense. With ASA, a perfect example is when a runner gets two bases from the time of the throw when a thrown ball leaves the field of play or becomes blocked. Well, now you have the throw-back to first on a line drive, trying to double up R1. Okay, I think, the runner was heading back to 1B, that's one, and then to 2B. That's two. "Runner goes to second". As we all know, R1 should be awarded 3B on this play (ASA). I kicked that call twice before an coach argued the point. I wouldn't give that runner an extra inch if my life depended on it. The coach, he was so upset that I had to not-so-politely ask him to leave. I couldn't figure what he was arguing about. My call made sense to me right up until I reread the rule book.

Boy, did I feel like a horse's ***. I apologized to the coach the next time I saw him.

Everything that was offered in the recent obstruction discussions makes absolute sense and would spur little argument from anyone other then an anal rules idiot like myself.

I learn a lot about NFHS, NSA, USSSA, PONY, etc. on these types of boards. I think the banter on this board is quite informative and discussion, even some bickering (which is rare for this board), makes us at least think about it and, in turn, better umpires.

And then someone ruins it all by quoting the case book. JUST KIDDING!

Now, anybody want to discuss interference on an infield fly with the tying run on third in the bottom of the 12th inning?