1) I need all the help I can get. I just don't know if I can afford all the different manuals that are out there. I have other expenses, and I am not rich to begin with. I have been (blissfully) doing without extra interpretation manuals for 20 years now, but I would like to have them now that I am aware of them. I had always relied on the rule books, casebooks (proper spelling, WWTB, according to the MLBUM), and classroom discussions. I want to be the best umpire possible, so any extra help is appreciated.

2) I am sending you an e-mail with the info. Dibs on the 2005 version.

your browser must not be picking up the HTML sarcasm tag

There is no better resource than the BRD. And this comes from someone who hasn't exactly been chummy with Carl lately.

You should go back and check your post where you wrote: "It's hard to legitimately claim he didn't know it when it's published in his book."

My post was reconized by several other posters as a joke. A joke saying he doesn't know something is not "legitimately claiming" that he does not know something.

Ditto, Rich! The BRD has become one of my most valuable tools as I officiate under all 3 codes. Trying to keep all the rules straight was a royal pain. The advent of the BRD put it all together.

To those who question the BRD, it is not "another rule book". You still need all 3 (OBR, FED & NCAA) rule books. The BRD takes a rule and associates it to the 3 rule books, shows the differences and supplies the case book and "double-secret rulings" put forth the rule gods. The best part is that Carl cites the rule book and rule number references along with the case book reference numbers so you can look up the rule as needed. He added a second index to quickly locate a rule and has a detailed index at the end as always. I've had many occasions where a coach wanted to see a rule (in the parking lot, of course) and I use the BRD to tell me exactly which rule to go to.

Of course, there are those who use the "photographic memory" concept of officiating. To those who have that capability, more power to ya'! I know my rules, but when an explanation is needed be it in the parking lot, at an association meeting or at our mentor's group, the BRD has been one of my best tools. Besides, it makes good reading in the "reading room"! Our HS rules interpreter always said "If you take the rule book into the crapper with you, you'll read the damn thing twice and you might just learn something!"

I agree with Rich and others -- if you can only afford one reference manual, this should be the first one. This is true even if you only work under one rules code. I only hope my order goes through this year (Carl, Brad -- that's a hint to either (grammar alert -- It is wrong to ever split an infinitive) allow on-line ordering without registering for the site or allow phone ordering -- neither worked for me last January)

ok then, to clarify my original question....

the BRD edition for 2006 won't come out until late January then, right?

Right Large, between the end of January and the middle of February. Carl has to wait for the gods of the NCAA and the FED to finalize their changes. Carl usually lets us know when the BRD is ready.

Well, why didn't ya say so in the first place? :D

Well I read it. I'm not a big dog, so I can't meliorate your "surprise," but I would have thought that the big dogs were complaining more about little league questions, such as "are the hands part of the bat?" than about little dog questions, such as "is the BR out if a batted ball strikes a bat in fair ground?"

You got some nice plugs in this thread, Carl. You should keep bumping it every week until the 2006 BRD comes out (that stands for "Best Resource, Dammit!" doesn't it?) ;)

Mr. Byron,

You would be surprised at the number of high school and college coaches who think that the hands are part of the bat. It is much more than just a little league question. I don't know where people got that idea, sort of like a tie going to a runner, just one of those perpetuated baseball myths.

You are a boob.

A fine piece of work, annually renewed, a tad overpriced relative to wages uninflated, edge dulled by author's own commotions, but a tool nonetheless.....from a Tool!

Into the fray strode a new darkened warrior. Bereft of the weaponry necessary to adequately engage the master, he nonetheless threw down his gauntlet in a flaccid gesture......

It was a dark time for the Forum, indeed............

Tim.

TW
 

Wit and brevity...less is more...BW is conserved.

...nice touch.

The more we respond to trolls, the longer they reside here.

Are you sure he's in training and not Windy himself with another name?