Do we really care what the rules are

[greymule]

Good point. You have to be careful when a league writes a rule that can be interpreted in different ways or that conflicts with another rule. Had one last night in junior high girls: you can steal, but you can't advance past the one base (but what if the throw goes into DBT?). So when a girl steals third and the catcher throws the ball into left field (not uncommon), the runner can't go home. But the rule says that the runner CAN be put out if she "overruns the base."

Well, one coach took that to mean that if she tries to advance when she is not permitted to, she can be tagged out. The other took it to mean only that if she overruns while trying to steal the base (i.e., fails to hold the bag), she can be tagged out. We went with the second interpretation.

I don't have a problem with ground rule triples or other modifications, but you do have to be careful when they throw a house rule at you. Could that rule create complications that they didn't foresee but that you might have to rule on--undoubtedly at a crucial point in the game?