LL Bat Question

[LilLeaguer]

Originally Posted by LLPA13UmpDan

Im not lazy. I do read the book. Umpires should be encouraged to ask questions when they are not sure. I do watch and learn. I do not like how the book is written, true, but sometimes i cannot find the answer im looking for. So i ask questions!!!

Yep, the Little League rulebook is almost impossible to read, and it has good stuff scattered all over it.

After I don't find the rule in the numbered chapter I expect it in (perhaps 6.00 - THE BATTER in this case), I head to the index. The index, strangely enough, is not at the end of the book, but occurs after Rule 9 and before the section on tournament rules. Of course, it doesn't have an entry on bat, but if you had followed your own hint, you would have found a subsection bat in the equipment section. It points to Rule 1.10.

But you'd be excused if you didn't find it; the index is pretty awful too. Full-text search sure would be nice. Now, there are probably copies of the Little League rulebook on the net, but they might be rarely shared, since Little League has strong feelings about guarding its intellectual property.

Luckily, Little League rules are derived from MLB rules, more or less, and those rules are online. Hop over to mlb.com and you can use your browser to search the rules. It's still divided up into chapters, so it might take time. The third instance of bat in Rule 1.00 is Rule 1.10. Now, you can't use MLB rule 1.10, 'cause it's not right for Little League. But with the hint on the rule number, you can find the right entry fairly easily.

I don't know about anybody else on this group, but that is what I do before I ask a rules-specific question on this board. (I never ask a Little League-specific question on this board, but that's another post.)