[Jerry]

Baseball would be much, much simpler if everyone played by the same rules and with the same interpretations AND all the officials were trained professionals with bionic vision and the wisdom and judgement of Solomon. But it isn't and we're not.

As officials, we play a miniscule part in the realm of the sport. Most spectators don't go to the games to watch us; but they do expect we render our decisions impartially, with integrity and a basic knowledge of the rules. We owe it to ourselves and our profession to become familiar with whatever local rules are invoked and then to adjudicate the contest to the best of our abilities in conformance with those rules and accepted interpretations.

If a local rule reads, "The hands are part of the bat." why would it be up to us to say, "No they're not!" The best you can do is be familiar with the "real" rule, but invoke the local rule. To do otherwise is doing a disservice to the participants of the game you're officiating.

So you see . . . the hands CAN be part of the bat after all!
(Oops . . . that's a different discussion.)