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I like (most) Local Rules
I have spent parts of the last 40+ years as a coach, board member, and President of various local leagues. Yes, I've seen some dumb rules, but overall I see a big value in local rules.
1. They reflect the desires of the local community rather than that of a national organization.
2. They often preceed rules changes in national organizations. It took Little League 30+ years to write manditory participation into its rule book. Every league was doing that via local rules long before. Continuous batting is popular in local leagues. Well, guess what. DH, DP, EP, DEFO, CR are all forms of higher level rules that encourage coaches to get more players in the game.
3. All rules have to recognize the age differences between offensive and defensive skills. (Offensive always preceeds Defense until you get to the professional level.) The classic is the L.L. "can not lead off" rule. It is a recognization that 11 y.o. boys can run like hell, but you will have difficulty teaching the same age group to pitch from the stretch position and learn the pickoff play. Local leagues know that little kids can hit and run, but seldom can catch the ball or get an out. So that is why all those silly advancement restriction rules.
4. Parents run local leagues and safety is a bigger concern to them than is the national organization. So helmets, and helmet masks, and no collision rules etc. occur there first. I remember a coach (also a H.S. coach) in a 13-15 baseball league demanding that we follow the NFHS rules without exception. But we had parents of boys that were not H.S. players that did not want those H.S. players sliding into their kids with steel on their feet. So we had a local rule - rubber cleats only.
WMB
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