One more question about the General Instructions

[Dave Hensley]

In a thread that's now closed, Papa C. said:

> Let's talk reality: The General Instructions are not a part of the
> rules of baseball. Those "instructions" now run about 500 8 1/2 by 11
> pages and are distributed to each major league umpire. The comments in
> the "back of the book" were guidelines added AFTER THE RULES 50 years
> ago.

(snip)

> Still, the comments or Mr. Evans are not official
> interpretations. But then neither are the "General Instructions to
> Umpires." They are so NOT a part of the rules, they don't even have a
> decimal number.
>
> I urge umpires not to justify screwing up by referring to something
> that is long, long out of date -- and not canon law anyway.
> __________________ Papa C Editor, eUmpire

But Papa C, in your own Baseball Rules Differences, Section 465, you actually cite the "General instructions to umpires, following 9.05" as the OBR guideline for whether an umpire should carry his rulebook on the field or not.

Are the general instructions so NOT part of the rules that umpires should be urged to ignore them because they are long, long out of date and non canon law anyway, or should they follow the information you've given them in section 485 of the BRD, which tells them - without any editorial comment about the notes being obsolete, not canon law, or generally ignored - to carry their rulebook on the field, because that's the OBR ruling according to the General Instructions?