[greymule]

Fed's case book does indeed provide a lot of situations. I wish OBR was as thorough as Fed, or even as ASA.

However, many of Fed's examples involve tobacco-like substances, conduct in case of a fight, removal of a helmet during a live ball, unsafe field conditions, intentional/unintentional throwing of bats, designated media areas, offical stamps on equipment, and other matters that have "potential litigation" written all over them. Many other of their "case plays" involve things like when to charge conferences, what colors can be worn for undershirts, what to do if a coach is using a video recorder, what objects the 3B coach can hold in the box, and how much closed-cell, slow-recovery rubber must pad a cast. In other words, the Fed case book expends a lot of ink on things that have nothing to do with actual "what if" plays.

I'm not saying their examples aren't necessary for an organization that covers school ball, but reading straight through their case book can be deadly boring. On the other hand, the PBUC and Baseball Rules Differences are full of valuable information on how to rule on actual plays. Pick a page at random and you either learn something new or have something important reinforced. My J/R is on order, and I'm sure it's the same way.