quote:
Originally posted by rex:
That is I done broke down and bought the BRD. I haven't had it all that long but it is as you've said very worth while. But man I just spotted something that blows me away.
Section 456
That is against everything I've ever been told. The people that are supposed to know what it's all about have always told me never, never, never. Yet you have chapter and verse that says Oh yes you should.
Am I missing something? Is it timing? Presentation? The need to know? Is it just one of those things that was writing at the beginning of time and never removed? What's the use in having it if you not supposed to use it?
You'll note I haven't mentioned what 456 is all about. Perhaps if you decide to answer this post without saying what we're talking about. It may key enough interest in Pete to break down and spend the $20. Those that have the BRD have already looked it up.
rex
The subject is: Should the umpire carry a rulebook onto the field?
Rex alludes to the fact that he has been told "never, never, never" to do that. Most associations, senior umpires, clinicians, trainers, etc., agree. Leave your book in your bag, they say in total unanimity.
Except:
(The NCAA requires that the umpires have a rule book at the game site. 3-b1 Nt) That must mean they think an umpire should consult it if he feels the need. He often feels the need when a DH question comes up.
In the BRD for the PRO "rule" I simply quote the case book "General Instructions to Umpire" that follows 9.05. For those who may not have a rulebook handy, here is the exact language of the OBR:
"Carry your rule book. It is better to consult the rules and hold up the game ten minutes to decide a knotty problem than to have a game thrown out on protest and replayed."
I would say that's pretty conclusive, and it means that august group who say otherwise are just flat wrong!
However:
Rex wants to know if that was written so long ago that nobody will bother to take it out of the book even though nobody pays any attention to it.
Rex: I don't know if you consider the time that was written to be "long ago." I don't. That "Instruction" was added to the book during the rewrite of 1950. Since I was already shaving then, it seems only yesterday to me.
I have always recommended that volunteer amateur umpires carry a rule book with them. The teams deserve to have the game decided on its merits, not by the rules' mistakes of "lightly" trained officials.
I do not think such umpires should allow a coach to come storming out, pointing to a passage in the book. In most places that's an automatic ejection -- and should be.
Each League UIC should set up guidelines for how a rules error gets corrected short of replaying the game after an upheld protest.
Remember, finally, Rex:
The "General Instructions" is not a rule; it's a comment in italics, which means it's a part of the case book. Case book interpretations change over the years. Jim Evans thinks so little of the passage that in his book he simply ignores it in his commentary.
You do what your association tells you to do. Then, if you'd like to work to have a policy set up whereby the book is consulted during discussion of a "knotty problem," then I would commend you for that.
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Papa C
Editor, eUmpire