Blood Rule in OBR

[Rich Ives]

Originally posted by DG
From PBUC: effective "March 17, 1993, all Minor League Baseball umpires shall abide by the M.L.B. policy regarding incidents in which a player begins bleeding during a game. As the policy states, "It is important for umpires to know that some precautions will be taken that may cause brief delays in a game. For example, if a garment(s) is penetrated by blood or other potentially infectious materials, the garment(s) shall be removed immediately or as soon as feasible." Umpires are instructed to use good common sense in applying this directive."

The umpires apparently used good common sense to recognize a situation where a minor amount of bleeding was not detrimental to a major league game. And LaRussa apparently figured the same thing, and that the umpires would not tolerate excessive complaining about it.

For whatever reason, the MLBUM doesn't include that.