Using 9.01c

[DDonnelly19]

Originally posted by devilsadvocate
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I believe that most umpires understand the rules and know the spirit and intent of those rules. I also believe that most umpires have good judgement. I think most umpires will use both when they use 9.01c.

I disagree -- I believe very few umpires ever understand or are taught the intent of the rules or official interpretations and authoritative opinions.

Back in the day, I recall that 9.01(c) was hammered into every young umpire's mind that it's the greatest rule ever written, that it gave us the power to do "whatever we want." So every umpire from that day used 9.01(c)'s "power" to justify any call, such as ignoring a balk. Ignoring a balk isn't "covering something not in the rules," it's applying the advantage\disadvantage principle to the situation at hand. 9.01(c) is used when you have R2, R3, 2 outs, PU calls IF, ball lands on a dog on the playing field and kills the dog, the ball is scooped up by a seagull who is then shot and killed from a fan in the stands, and the ball sails over the fence in the outfield.

I don't even think we should mention the existance of 9.01(c) to younger umpires, because most would likely abuse its "power."