General Instructions: Generally Ignored

[Jim Porter]

Bfair and Moose,

I don't know what got you guys all fired up.

"Gas House Gang," was the name given to the 1930's St. Louis Cardinals, for their fiery, spirited, and fun-loving style. Perhaps you took this label as an insult. I found it to be a testimony to your commitment to this topic. I don't see the name-calling or negative classification reported by Moose, nor do I understand the reaction of Bfair. Did you guys misunderstand?

By the way, the Gas House Gang is also a world-reknown barbershop quartet. You guys do seem to be in harmony on this issue, and there seems to be a quartet, so is it such a stretch?

The General Instructions, like much of the OBR, is in desperate need of a rewrite. Jim Evans points this out. In fact, every instructor I've ever known has pointed this out.

This is not limited to the professional baseball world, either. The amateur baseball umpiring world also ignores the General Instructions. It is because we have progressed our training methods, and mechanics, beyond the experience of the rulesmakers at the time those instructions were written.

What Carl said here is not new. It's not a stretch. It's not simply arguments to support a position. It is good, solid, umpiring advice. You'd be well advised to read and learn.