Among my peers, majority of coaches, players and fans I am considered a very solid, quality umpire. But, year after year I would pass right over these terribly worded rulings believing that I had a very good understanding of most of all the other rules. So, I could get away with not really having a clear understanding of a few others. Oh ya, for the most part of 16 years I was polished enough as a umpire I pulled it off.
www.baseballrulesinblackandwhite.com
All the time in the back of my mind I knew I really did not know these rules, the tough ones, the poorly worded ones and I knew it effected my calls. It made umpiring that much more difficult, even though most others had no idea. That did not matter, what mattered was I knew.
If your an honest umpire reading this many of you know exactly what I am talking about. For the most part, sometime as an umpire everyone has had a less than solid understanding of the rules. But, after sixteen year you would think not so. But, because of the poorly worded, confusing language, user unfriendly, small font format of the rule book these specific rulings are seldom clearly understood by many, many seasoned umpires.
To confirm what I have typed, if you as a seasoned official frequently use the term "in my opinion" when defending your rulings, you qualify for being unclear in the definition of the rule. No one wants to hear an opinion, they only want to know what the rules says.
"In my opinion", I call this my umpire get out of jail free card. I will come back to this on my next entry.
www.baseballrulesinblackandwhite.com
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