Curious to find out how prevalant the use of lineup cards is among SP umpires other than in a tournament situation.

As a new blue, I notice that most leagues rely on an official scorer to keep the book but I do not notice any umpires maintaining a lineup card of their own. Initially, I started this season out by providing each team a lineup card (mulit-part carbonless form) which seemed a bit of overkill for the leagues I work. As much as I would like to follow the "culture" of the leagues, I want to be sure to present myself in a professional manner that my ASA training has afforded me. Your thoughts?

Highly recommended if you can get the AA to write one.

That's easy.

"Coach, I need a line-up card before we start. Oh, by the way, the game clock started 30 seconds ago.

"Give it to you next inning, gotta play left field" or "we don't need them in this league" or "you're the only umpire that wants one" or "don't know their names" or "what numbers?"

Hang on, Coach. Let me check the rule book and see where that is MY problem ;)

I have been doing Rec. Council level Baseball & Softball for over 20 years, and I have NEVER seen a line up card.
They usually appear at big Invitational Tournaments. I do not provide them.
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However I should also mention, most Rec. Council leagues have rules where everyone who shows up is in the batting order.

So, without line-up cards, how do you handle BOO?

Home teams book is the "official" book for line-ups.

This is true on many occaisons and the issue of BOO can be a dilema if the visiting team happens to catch a BOO. Perhaps mute point just as any other league "exception" that might exist.

I might add that in Rec leagues the game time limit and nightly, packed schedule leaves little time to administer line-up cards during a contest. I guess I will save it for tournament play.

A properly completed line-up card is an important tool for an umpire.

It can keep the umpire and teams out of sticky situations. I do not work a game without one and I don't care how long it takes. The coaches are told before the season to have them available. The league supplies them.

However, that doesn't mean it isn't a fight, but I always win!

Exactly. I won't work without one either. There are just too many situations that can happen when you don't have one.

Around here (Nevada) they use a game card that each team fills out. One side is the lineup and the other is a scoreboard type card to keep track of the runs.

No scorekeepers here, blues keep track of the runs and their count is final. I tell the teams that I will announce the runs at the end of the 1/2 inning and corrections can be talked about at that time. If they come back to me after we have thrown a pitch to start the inning, tough luck no matter what their wives/girlfriends score book says.

I have never had anyone ask me about BOO in a rec league game.