Local Yokel Rules

[BretMan]

One local one that's caused some problems (and I've posted about before):

Double first base use: The defense may use the colored base on ANY dropped third strike play.

I've worked in a couple of local leagues that had something like this:

Runners may only steal on a passed ball.

By definition, it's not a passed ball unless a runner actually advances. Plus, if it's really a passed ball, then it isn't technically a stolen base. And what if it's not a passed ball, but it's a wild pitch (which is something completely different)? When I brought up the inconsistency of this rule, all I got was a blank stare.

One of my favorites:

Protests are NOT permitted. If a coach wants to challenge a rule interpretation by an umpire, he must bring it up before the next pitch is thrown. The scorekeeper will make a note of the score, runners on base, number of outs etc. The league will then make a decision on the ruling. If necessary, the game will be replayed from the point of the misapplied rule.

So, they emphasize that protests are not allowed, then outline a "challenge" procedure that is, essentially, the same as an official protest.

[MrRabbit]

And heaven forbid that someone tries to explain it to them.

[BretMan]

Originally Posted by MrRabbit

And heaven forbid that someone tries to explain it to them.

Well, I've tried. That's been met with varying degrees of success...

Some of these leagues might do something as informal as hand an umpire a list of their rules and say, "Tell us what you think". Whether or not they actually change anything is kind of a coin toss.

Some just take the stance that "these are our rules and this is how we're going to do it"...end of story.

One large league near me really seems to give a darn about stuff like this. They email the league rules to their umpires before the season for critique and annually hold a couple of meetings with senior umpires to go over rule issues. Their board member in charge of supervising the umpires has a coaching background, but the guy is so serious about his duties that he went through the process of becoming FED certified just to have a better understanding of the rules and umpire mechanics. He holds several rules meetings for coaches and puts together a pretty good umpire training program for the new guys that work lower level games.

In that league, I have managed to get some of their local rules clarified or changed. But there can still be some "politics" involved. Any rule change has to go through their board of directors. There have been a couple where a board member had his own idea of what the rule should be and dug in his heels to resist any changes.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by BretMan

I've worked in a couple of local leagues that had something like this:

Runners may only steal on a passed ball.

By definition, it's not a passed ball unless a runner actually advances. Plus, if it's really a passed ball, then it isn't technically a stolen base. And what if it's not a passed ball, but it's a wild pitch (which is something completely different)? When I brought up the inconsistency of this rule, all I got was a blank stare.

A league that my youngest daughter played in had a rule similar to the one Bret cited - There is no stealing, but runners may advance on any pitched ball that goes past the catcher. That put the umpire in the position of judging what was "past" the catcher and what was just "even" with the catcher.

This league also had the infamous "runners must slide on any close play" rule.... we didn't stay too long with that league....