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As others have, let's be sure we accept that OBR does not equate with advanced level or player age. Meaning plenty of 13-15 year old games are played essentially under OBR, with safety modifications of course, slide or avoid, et al.
Point is that plenty of coaches are the equivalent of baby sitters, and I don't blame them or think poorly of them (yet) simply because they don't understand one of the most confusing documents in human history.. The Official Rules Of Baseball.
Heck, perhaps in this game you have the 3rd Assistant as Coach because Mngr, and 1st and 2nd Coach are off hunting. When the play happens.. TELL HIM HIS OPTIONS. Other that pompacity (did I make that up?) there is no good reason not to. [/B][/QUOTE]
In our area, ALL leagues above LL play OBR with various modifications (DH for any player is common, force-play slide rule, collision rule, re-entry rule, etc.) We have an agreement on our board: Unless there is a modification that takes precedence over OBR, we will use OBR and current interpretations of OBR. That means using NAPBL and/or J/R, when needed, as authoritative. (We would use JEA, but we haven't been able to get a copy. Anyone know how we can?) Now if we added to our modifications that the umpire should alert the offensive coach of an option after catcher's interference and if coaches (and umpires) were aware of the change, then we would do it. But we don't believe it is our job to change OBR interpretations depending on the level of play.
Recently, I was able to convince our board that the OBR interpretation of overrunning first base did not protect BR running past first on a walk. Now it doesn't really make much difference whether the runner can be put out or not. What matters is that there is an interpretation in OBR and we have (as a board) agreed to use OBR interpretations.
It seems to me that modifying current OBR interpretations, without prior notification to the participants, is a path to chaos.
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