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Originally Posted by greymule
There is nothing in the rules that states . . .
These words apply to a whole lot of plays that require consideration, analysis, explanation, and ruling outside the rule book. As just one of countless examples, nowhere does the OBR book state specifically whether or not a runner's yelling, "Hey!" while running behind a fielder under a popup constitutes interference. If all we had were the rule book, we could legitimately conclude that it is a form of interference, but through deliberation outside the rule book, we know that it is not.
The U.S. Constitution—the "rules" of our country—can be fit into a small pamphlet, yet what has been written about interpreting those rules could fill a library, and the debate continues to this day. In the same way, the volume of material written about how to rule on plays far outweighs the rules themselves. There's a reason that even with the J/R, Evans, MLBUM, PBUC, BRD, there are still plays nobody's sure about.
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Three quotes come to mind:
"The rulebook contains a finite number of rules for an infinite number of possibilities."
Tim Stevens
"Some times you just have to umpire."
Jim Evans
"You've got to remember, that these are just simple farmers, these are people of the land, the common clay of the new west. You know . . . morons."
The Waco Kid