After they issued their first idiotic ruling on projected subs, I guess the only way to fix it was to come up with some other strangely worded rule.

Yeah, I guess something along the lines of, "All substitutions are effective immediately upon acceptence by the umpire" would be too difficult to understand. :cool:

Except they couldn't word it that way after they changed their substitution rule to say the sub was not officially in the game until the ball was declared live by the plate umpire a few years back.

I don't believe that is accurate, although it does appear to be a common misconception.

Not looking in a book, but my memory says that UNREPORTED subs are not in the game until the ball is live and they are playing in that position. The purpose was to stop the absurd rulings that if someone not in the game or playing a different position stopped somewhere on the field (let's say the shortstop threw a warmup pitch, or a courtesy runner stopped to warm up the pitcher) that it was a substitution.

All REPORTED substitutions are in the game when the substitution is accepted by the umpire (in NCAA, and in common practice elsewhere, actually when the sub is reported to all affected parties).

Nfhs 3-3 art 3 e. And, in each of the above situations, when the ball is declared live by the plate umpire.

My recollection is there is also a test question on it with regard to a coach making a sub who has been announced to the opposing coach, but changes their mind prior to the umpire putting the ball back into play. If the ball has not been put back into play the sub has not officially entered the game.

You are skipping the preface to all those sub-articles, which states "If there is no announcement of substitutions, a substitute has entered the game when ......"

This (when the ball is declared live) relates to unreported/unannounced substitutions. Once reported and announced, this clause is not in effect (whether listed on a test or not).

This is the NFHS test question from the 2013 test.

An offensive substitute has officially entered the game when the ball is live and she replaces a runner on base or takes her place in the batter's box.

The answer was true, and notice the statement "when the ball is live". NFHS changed the substitution reporting rule a few years ago. The sub is not officially in the game until reported and the ball is made live.

And is e not a sub heading of Art 3? Wouldnt that make article 3 one of the above situations of e?

I will not do a continued back and forth; this will be my last post on this topic.

1) The question posed is standard poor NFHS test question example. It doesn't state if the substitute was announced or not, and once the sub is in the game with a live ball, it doesn't matter. It also an affirmative and one-directional statement; it doesn't ask about the alternative (if announced, but ball not yet alive).

2) Your subjective reading as subheading isn't the linear rationale of how one reads a rule book.

The items a-e apply If there is no announcement of substitutions. If there is an announcement, STOP READING, what follows until you see Art. 4 does not apply.

3. YES, they changed the substitution rule; in 2013. The change clarified the obligation to announce subs to the opposing head coach, not simply an "official" scorekeeper. There was no other change with respect to when a substitution became official.

What you are saying is a common misconception; you may have even been instructed that by someone in authority. It simply is NOT the NFHS rule, however.