Baseball Coaches & Umpires let's really know the rule.

Baseball Coaches & Umpires wanting a better understanding of baseball rules and are not satisfied with current rule book language, sentence structure, font size, or ability to simply find a rule. There is a better way! Baseball Rules in Black and White is available at Lulu.com, Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and other retailers.www.baseballrulesinblackandwhite.com

Nancy's Bookshelf on KCHO 91.7 FM Radio Interview

As promised our taped radio interview with Nancy's Bookshelf on KCHO 91.7 FM will air this Friday October 28th 10 am to 11 am. If you are out of radio signal just go to: http://tunein.com/…/North-State-Public-Radio-(KCHOKFPR)-91…/ and listen online. 

This is following a great week of book sales, promotion, reviews and contacts in Riverside, Ca as a guest speaker at Billy Haze's "elite" Black and Blue Umpire Camp. 

Many, many exciting projects, opportunities and travels ahead. Hope you have time on Friday to listen in and enjoy this interview, should be a great warm up for the world series that evening. www.baseballrulesinblackandwhite,
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It's the rule!

Just stepping on to a baseball field an umpire has to project confidence above all else.  That confidence must be maintained throughout the entire came.  Confidence is vital to every aspect of what an umpire does; it is the key to officiating a successful game. 

Confidence is of utmost importance when making a rules interpretation call.  Why? Because you as the umpire will be making a final decision, and it is your interpretation of that rule that will be the final verdict.  If a coach, team, or fans see one ounce of doubt or weakness regarding your interpretation, your confidence is out the window, and you are in hot water.

When that doubt regarding your call creeps into your head, it overrides any knowledge or logic that would be beneficial and instead drives you into panic mode.  The coach begins to raise his voice. Fans who are only happy half the time anyway begin to elevate their noise, and the wonderful game you walked into confidently has now turned ugly.  Your interpretation is weak; everyone knows it, and worst of all you know it.

The coach needs an answer. No, he is demanding an answer.  Time is now becoming an issue, and it is up to you to provide that answer, an answer that will satisfy the coach, the players, and possibly even a few fans.  An answer that will allow the game to proceed and re-instill your badly damaged confidence, but at this point it is too late. 

Let’s go back. 

What if when the play took place, and the coach came out, instead of a weak explanation, you provided a brief clear explanation of the rule that should be accepted, but knowing coaches as only we umpires do, it probably will not be accepted, just as before.  This time though, rather than doubt devouring your ability to reason and function, you can confidently inform the coach, “I know the rule, and what was called stands.” 

At this point you have asserted your confidence of the rule and your interpretation, removing any doubt regarding your knowledge and confidence.  Sounds great! Right?

How do you gain a definitive understanding of difficult rules so that when you are required to interpret that rule, you can do so with confidence? This brings us back to the source of all baseball rules, the rule book.

Every umpire knows there is nothing definitive about complex rules in the rule book.  In most cases, convoluted or arbitrary are more fitting, and this is why consistently year after year umpires get their confidence shredded after sharing their weak rule interpretation with a frustrated coach.

What to do?  If trying to recall the rule book’s confusing wording and bizarre sentence structure only adds confusion and doubt, what can help?

How about a book that has removed the cluttered wording, bizarre sentence structure, confusion and doubt from sixteen of the most confusing, difficult and frequently kicked calls in baseball.  From those sixteen rules I have extracted over 150 bullet points of basic English, that is clear and in user friendly format.  Each redefined rule example or illustration includes the NFHS rule number & page number from the NFHS rule book.  This not only allows you to verify the information, but it also allows you to locate the rule from the NFHS rule book quicker than ever before. 

Cluttered or definitive?  Confusion or clarity? Doubt or confidence? The first words in each of these questions bury umpires.  The second word in each of these questions emboldens umpires. For over sixteen years I was set up to be buried when I provided an interpretation on difficult rulings, but no longer.

I have written Baseball Rules in Black and White, the book I have referenced.  You can surely continue to be set up to get buried by weak interpretations of confusing rules, but why would you? Instead break through the fog and gain a clear understanding of sixteen of the most difficult rules in baseball.

Baseball Rule Book Language Quagmire

•   Any base runner is out when hit by a batted ball before the ball touches, or after it passes any infielder except the pitcher, and the umpire is convinced that another infielder has a play (5-1-1f, 6-1-5). Rule 8-4-2k, Pg. 54 
• ·      Ball becomes dead immediately when a fair batted ball, Rule 5-1-1f, Pg. 34 

1. touches a runner or an umpire before touching any fielder and before passing any fielder other than the pitcher,

2. touches a runner after passing through or by an infielder and another infielder could have made a play on the ball,

•  Pitching, Rule 6-1-5, Pg. 40

When a pitcher is attempting to field a batted or thrown ball or is throwing to a base while his pivot foot is clearly off his plate, his status is that of an infielder except that if a batted ball passes but does not touch him and then strikes an umpire or a runner the ball may become dead because of interference.

Could this be any more arbitrary and convoluted?

Baseball Rules in Black and White: How much input do umpires have in rule changes?

Baseball Rules in Black and White: How much input do umpires have in rule changes?: Warning/Ejection Protocol Rule  3-3-1 Penalty Pg. 28, 29 The rule has simply reverted back to the past years enforcement protocol F...

How much input do umpires have in rule changes?

Warning/Ejection Protocol Rule 3-3-1 Penalty Pg. 28, 29

The rule has simply reverted back to the past years enforcement protocol

First minor infraction: Verbal warning!

Second minor infraction: Written warning and restricted to bench.

Third minor infraction: Ejection!

This rule change for the 2017 high school baseball season is a step backwards in reducing ejections.  I believe it allows small problems more time to fester into bigger problems.  

It sets up a dynamic for an additional irritating dialogue with a more than likely potentially difficult personality.  What are we as umpires constantly reminded?  Less communication the better.  

So now what are told, lets talk with and give the hot tempered, short fused coach a subtle verbal warning.  It's like adding three links to King Kong's ankle chain.  Thanks for all the help! 

This new revised old rule allows additional time for that special person to continue to see just how far they can continue to push and promote a bad situation.  Then when he has pushed his irritating personality to the limits and now it is run over into the stands or worse the players. Now they are confined to the dugout.  Where possibly they will continue their charming ways, because now as he sees it the umpire has had it out for him when the umpire first talked/scolded him in front of the fans.  

Lastly, if he does continue to escalate his anger, he ultimately will be ejected.

Last year's language had us go straight to confining the offender to the bench with his first offense.  At first glance this sounds a bit harsh.  It is. What it also is, it's effective.  The amount of problems I experienced last year compared to the past where nothing.  No ejections and I only had to sit one coach in the dugout.  

The demeanor from all the coaches was very much improved and I feel them knowing in the back of their minds that being a bit less agitated is worth not being stuck in a dugout. 

Changing a rule that benefits umpires game management and reducing ejections, especially at the high school level doesn't make any sense.  Play ball!www.baseballrulesinblackandwhite.com

Friends, Countryman, & Baseball Fanatics lend me your pen, Giants wild card game, college football, Beer & Wings, MMA fight, 69 big screens wall to wall coverage at the Buffalo Wild Wings what could be better you ask? For the first FIVE guests in line a Free autographed copy of Baseball Rules in Black and White, black and white cake, raffle prizes including a Hunter Pence Sacramento River Cats Bobble Head. You could stay home and miss it, but why would you?

OCT8

Going

Book Signing Party

Sat 3 PM · Buffalo Wild Wings 

845 East Ave Chico

Hey Umpire, are your calls automatic?

What causes the human body to react either automatically, delayed or not at all?

Most automatic responses are a combination of muscle memory and repetitive mental conditioning such as typing this blog. Starting your car, brushing your teeth, cooking a steak, no need to break out a training manual in order to accomplish these tasks, automatic.  Right?

Delayed reactions are the mind's response to questionable things, the unknown, the confusing and problems. For instance, like should I post this tonight or let my chief editor / my wife read it first?  By allowing more time to process a decision, I believe I will gain a better or safer outcome.

No action can be the end result of a delayed reaction. It is similar thinking that by allowing more time to process, a better or safer outcome might be achieved, but when the reality sets in that you have no idea what to do, you are done. You freeze.  Most understand this response as the "deer in the headlights" syndrome.

Umpire's reactions must be automatic without exception, but that is easier said than done. Enter outside influences such as coaches, fans, players, weather, fatigue, and team history.  Now add the controllable factors such as field mechanics, rule book knowledge, timing, physical conditioning and experience.  

Inside an umpire's head he is evaluating not only the plays but also merging in factors like coaches' perceptions, players' concerns, distractions of fans, intensity of fatigue, heat or cold or past history with either team.  Whether an umpire will admit it or not, all of these factors distort his ability to make a
call automatically as he should.  

On top of these problems add any negative controllable factors such as lack of knowledge regarding field mechanics, rules, poor physical conditioning, bad timing or just lack of experience,

and calls now quickly deteriorate between delayed or not at all.
   
Make sure this does not happen to you when calling a game.  Buy a copy of Baseball Rules in Black and White today, hell buy, two and give one to a friend, you'll be glad you did!

On Our Way, Play Ball!

On Our Way, Play Ball!

Over the last two days I have been very busy.  On Friday I drove an hour and a half to Grass Valley to do a one hour radio interview with Tom Fitzsimmons at KNCO 830 am on the dial.  Tom and his producer Dick Barry and the whole office staff are big time sports guys, calling play by play for a local independent baseball league team, high school baseball and football. MLB wildcard slots are filling, playoffs and series are around the corner, my Baseball Rules in Black and White interview, and these guys were ready. 

From the moment I sat down, put on the headphones it was go time. Tom did a master’s job of blending current baseball topics with old school baseball lore while integrating info about my book Baseball Rules in Black and White.  Tom is a true genius at what he does.  One hour disappeared like ice on a hot summer day, but before it ended, I was rejuvenated by these true baseball aficionados’ appreciation for the need for a book like Baseball Rules in Black and White.  

Their genuine understanding and appreciation for what my book is truly capable of achieving when compared to the current standard baseball rule book, made me want to bust.  It was a truly phenomenal experience to have such an unbiased evaluation with such overwhelming approval, and these two guys do not just talk the talk about baseball.  Tom played at Arizona State, and his producer Dick also umpires.  That makes their endorsement real, very real.

You see having poured my heart, soul and wallet, saying nothing about my reputation as an umpire into this book, the real challenge now is promoting it in order for it to become an accepted credible addition to the baseball rule book.  I consider myself an emotionally strong person, but I have to admit that the sheer magnitude of what this project is becoming impressive to say the least.  Having said this, I would not change a thing, so it’s Katy bar the door, full speed ahead.    

As soon as I left the studio I called my wife, Kristel, and filled her in on how the program went.  I was especially happy to share such good news with her as she too feels the emotional and fiscal intensity involved with a project of this scope.

Normally this would be the end of this story, but when I said it has been a very busy two days I’m not lying.  After talking with Kristel I left the radio station parking lot and set my GPS for the Rancho Cordova Marriott’s forty-five miles away where my room for the night awaited.  I had much to do prior to my head getting near a pillow. I was graciously invited by Mr. Billy Haze to be a guest speaker at his Black and Blue Baseball Umpire Camp dinner meeting with over forty campers and instructors.  I consider him a true visionary in the field of training and educating umpires. Early on, Mr. Haze grasped and endorsed Baseball Rules in Black and White from its very inception.  Having said this, I eagerly looked forward to making his invitation a worthwhile event that would benefit everyone in the room. 

Let’s go back to arriving at the hotel, I checked in and took my belongings up to my room.  I did not have much time at this point, but I did have time to grab a bite to eat so I went down to the hotel restaurant.  I sat down outside by the pool and ordered my food.  All of a sudden sirens were screaming, one fire truck, two fire trucks, and an ambulance.  I did not give it a second thought until my waitress returned with my salad and informed me the power in the entire building, city block was out.  I immediately knew what the fire trucks were doing.  My waitress continued to tell me that my prime rib was put on standby until the power came back on.  Damn it, I was hungry.  Time was getting tight, so I cancelled the prime rib, paid the bill and headed to the dinner house where we were all to meet. 

It was a short trip to the Black and Blue Umpire Camp dinner meeting, and as I made my way in, initially I did not recognize anyone.  I was early to arrive but found my way to the room where we were to meet.  As I sat their going over what I would say to a room full of umpires whose experience working baseball totaled an incredible amount of years, some of the instructors have and are working at the highest levels the game is played.   The umpires attending the camp collectively work thousands of lower level games, and many work several hundred games annually. These are umpires who are very skilled but still seeking to constantly improve the abilities, as most umpires strive to do.  It became obvious that I would be addressing a broad, randomly selected, and extremely knowledgeable assembling of my peers.  Up to this point, this was going to be the ultimate test for my book, Baseball Rules in Black and White.

As the campers began making their way in and out of the room I measured my interaction.  The one thing I did not want to do was to come across as a high pressure used car salesman.  I know most will not believe the following statement: Umpires inherently are friendly great people, so knowing this made my task a pleasant one.  The room began to fill, and everyone became seated and small talk enveloped the room. 

Enter Mr. Billy Haze, owner of Black and Blue Umpire camps and NCAA Division 1 College World Series Umpire, and the small talk ended. Mr. Haze prefers to be called Billy.

The stage was set, me, the book, business cards, and over forty umpires with a dozen high level instructors all in a confined area.  Billy began by greeting everyone and covering some important camp business.  He then quickly began a highly complementary introduction, and I was wondering who was going to speak, but after a short time I finally realized I was the one being introduced. 

Other than Billy, I only recognized a couple of the men in the room.  This became the first task I had to accomplish, if they did not connect with me on a personal level, my message would be pointless.  I wanted them to come away and be able to say they met a fellow umpire named Jim who has written a book focused on helping all umpires understand difficult baseball rules.  Just as important that they would know without a doubt, I have a love of baseball, umpiring, and the comradery that goes with the game, just like each and every one of them. 

After a short time it became clear I had connected. I was now on a level playing field with my peers.  

Dozens purchased my book, and several requested group discounts for their associations, but that was minor compared to the additional numbers of umpires that opened up regarding their struggles with the current rule book format regarding complicated rules.   

After the dinner meeting many umpires found their way to me while holding their copy of Baseball Rules in Black and White in hand while emphatically sharing their joy that these specific difficult rules are being clarified in a user friendly format. 

Baseball Rules in Black and White provides definitive interpretations for complex rules in simple language and allows the reader to quickly and easily find that information. These are the reasons why College World Series NCAA Division 1 umpire Billy Haze has endorsed this book and why dozens of well trained and experienced umpires now own and are using it as well. 

This book is the future of baseball rules education.  If you believe that being “pretty sure” about what a rule means is good enough, then you probably do not need this book.  On the other hand, if “pretty sure” about a rule is unacceptable, then buy Baseball Rules in Black and White today.

James C. Bettencourt

www.baseballrulesinblackandwhite

bbribaw@gmail.com

530-330-3139