ASA Rule Book
 

BTW, just a note.

Look for ASA to discontinue the Team and Umpire editions of the rule book and publish just a single edition in the future, maybe as early as next season.

Since they have removed the code, there doesn't seem to be any reason for a separate book for the teams.

Apparently, there is also a feeling out there that the State/Metro contact information should make a return in the rule book. I just hope that someone doesn't get uppity about the umpire manual and we end up with that being a separate publication.

I hope they keep that in the same book. Making it all one isnt a big deal. Whatever they do, I just hope they keep the catalog in there... :rolleyes:

Does it not save money to put everything into one publication?

Saying of which, how does one obtain the PDF version of the rule book? That'd be muy handy.

Buy it from ASA. But, they have it bundled with a mechanics program on CD.

You can also get the ASA case book as a pdf, but, again, it is bundled with other stuff - in this case, the clinic guide. Rule book / mechanics is $25 and Case book / clinic guide is $15.

You also have to be persistent in finding these on the ASA site. They are NOT listed in the umpire gear pages, nor with the umpire training material. If memory serves, they are on the general ASA / USA merchandise site under "video" or some such. I have complained to the webmaster about this. It is a very strange place to put CDs that would be of interest primarily to umpires.

Thanks for the tip, Dakota! Frankly, I don't know why they don't bundle both for umpires to make things easier on us. It'd be nice to be able to buy both at the same time without spending $40. Heck, the printed rule book is only $10, and there's no printing costs associated with a PDF!

To be honest with you, not really. I have the rules on a CD and hard drive and I ALWAYS find what I need in the book much quicker than on the CD.

Well, that may be a personal taste for you, but being that I spend almost all of my waking hours in front of a computer (when I'm not on the field), PDFs are very handy for me. :)

Plus, if you have Mac OS X, the PDF viewer "Preview" has an excellent search function. It will pull up every mentioning of the word "interfere" in a split second. ;)

Secure PDF
 

My only problem with the PDF version is that they prevent it from being printed or copying (i.e. cut and paste into another document). The nice part of having something in an electronic format is the ability to print or quote a specific section. I guess that are afraid that I will pay $25 for the pdf and print paper copies for everyone.

Yeah, so do I. About 10 hours a day at work and then when I get home. Like now as I'm jumping back and forth between this and my work mailbox. Trust me, I can appreciate your situation.

Maybe it's just my familiarity with the book

Plus...it is much easier to access a rulebook at a game site than to get your laptop out, fire it up, stick the disc in, and then search for whatever it is you are searching for. :D

In 2007, that was true for the case book, but the rule book was copy & paste-able and printable. Don't know if that was an oversight. I haven't bought the 2008 CDs (yet), so I don't know about them.

I doubt they are too worried about printing hard copies, since it would be cheaper to buy the book than print it (unless, perhaps, you were thinking of mooching off of your employer's printers....)

I depends on what I am doing with the book.

If I just need to quickly look something up, the printed book is faster for me.

But, if I am looking something up as part of a web board discussion, the pdf is pretty darn convenient, plus I can quote the book without a lot of typing. I hope the ability to cut and paste stays with future editions. I'd like to see it with the case book, too.

That is why I am thinking about getting the pdf.. Dakotas ability to copy/paste.

As far as general purpose rule look up.. turn to the section.. find the rule.. its that quick. I have a rule book in my gear bag, at work and here at my computer.

I'm not tooting the Mac horn, but that's another area where Mac OS X's Preview is nice to use - you can copy and paste, and I've done it a number of times on this board.

Y'all didn't think I actually sat down and typed all those quotes, did you? :cool: