“Jaksa/Roder” Manual and BRD
 

I would make the assumption that most everyone knows at least what the J/R and BRD are but I've always wonder how many people own them. Lately I've seen to encounter a lot of situations where one or both would be helpful. So I'm thinking about getting a set for myself. Can't have too much in your officiating library, right?

I come to find out that J/R have multiple books! Does anyone own the "More Than 100 Problems With the Official Baseball Rules" or "The Jaksa/Roder Baseball Rules Course" and would recommend them as well?

Thanks

-Josh

I've thought about getting J/R...it's probably a bit better formatted than the BRD...while I like the content of the BRD, sometimes it's tough to read because there doesn't appear to be consistent fonts throughout. For all of the resources I currently have, I'm going to wait for Evans new book to come out and see what that one would cost. That's the one I want...not that the J/R manual is bad by any means...but if I had a choice, which right now we don't...I suppose J/R is not a bad option other than the fact that they're not official interps...but it can certainly help most umpires improve by understanding the rules.

Buy them both. You will not regret it. If you are serious about your umpiring then get Jaksa/Roder and BRD. If you think you need the more intensive course or if you are having particular trouble with the rules of baseball get the Jaksa/Roder rules course. I found BRD (I have had 3 so far) and Jaksa/Roder along with the rule books for NCAA, FED and OBR sufficient study for me (along with an average of 230 games per year over the past 4 years) to accurately and effectively apply the rules in the games I work.


By the way, the differing fonts in BRD are to show where the authority comes from for the advice/ruling contained in each section along with the differing levels of rules compared in that tome.

I understand the differnet fonts/authorties. I just need more work out of that book to get used to the format. It's a great tool, no doubt. I certainly do not regret making the purchase.

I have both, but they are both seriously out of date. The J/R is from the early 1990s, and the BRD is a hand-me-down from Rich Ives, and is the 2005 version.

Do they update them periodically? I know the BRD they do but does J/R?

-Josh

J/R updated in 07 or 08, which is the version I got...

I would purchase BRD before J/R though

The J/R I have is woefully inaccurate. I will have to break down and buy a new one for next season.

I find more useful Baseball Rules for Idiots, by T. McCarver and J. Morgan.

lol!!!

I know what both publications are, but I'm not going to pay for either one of them unless they were up to date and of a better price range.

My J/R is 2008 edition. I buy an update about every 4 years. My BRD is 2008 edition. I buy an update about every 2 years. I also have a Study Guide: College Baseball Rules from 2005. If serious about getting to know rules better, and work games with different rule sets, you need both J/R and BRD.

The BRD is $29 and J/R is $39 from Gerry Davis. Those are pretty fairly priced considering their content. I have one book at work that is about Data Warehousing by Ralph Kimball which runs about $60. That sounds like a lot of money for a book until you realize that Ralpha Kimball is considered a leading expert in the field of Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing.

Let's not even talk about some of the text books I purchased while in college that I used for just a quarter. The BRD seems downright cheap in comparison.

I didn't know about the BRD, JR Manual, PBUC, etc until I started posting on the various forums. Once I bought and read some of them, I don't know how I umpired without them.

Don't forget that the purchase of those books is tax deductible, which for some of us is like a 15% discount. ;)

Add another $10 to ship the book...so it really is a $40 book