Adding players to a lineup

[Umpteenth]

Originally Posted by chapmaja

I disagree with that statement to some extent. Local rules are made by people who understand who the majority of players PAYING to play in their league are. The majority of players playing in Recreational Leagues are not going out and playing USA Tourneys on the weekends. They are out to play for 1 or 2 nights per week. The local rules allow some flexibility to allow the games to be played and the participants to get what they PAID for, the chance to participate in the games.

Are some rules over the top stupid? Absolutely, because at some point they do start to mess with the integrity of the game, but some of the rules do exactly what the purpose of the local rule is, getting those who are paying to participate a chance to participate.

It is made very clear at our yearly league clinic. "We are in a business to attract teams. Without teams you, as umpires, don't have games to work."

In our neck of the woods, a lot of teams playing "recreational" ball (USA-sanctioned, but using local rules) during the week are teams that play USSSA tournament ball on the weekends.
So, we deal with local rules that vary from city to city (for example, one city uses "courtesy" foul with 2 strikes, others do not), rules differences between USSSA and USA, etc. And, a lot of the players want to abide by OBR and not softball rules, with lots of arguing centering on rules they "think" they know, but have no understanding of at all.
Add to this the fact that umpires do not review the city local rules, let alone actually read the USA rule book, nor do they have an understanding of game management, and this is a can of worms that explodes on a regular basis.
Thankful I don't do SP any more.