Simple or Complex?
I know few people who like anything that is complicated.
Most of us have had the misfortune of ending up being in a room with a large cardboard box surrounded by several family members eagerly anticipating the construction of their new entertainment center or a computer office desk. As the box opens and the dozens of heavily weighted compressed pieces are exposed, the realization that you are going to be responsible for the end product quickly begins to alter your emotions. Then even more terrifying visions appear from the box, dozens of bags with assorted lettering filled with dozens of smaller bags also marked with assorted lettering, and these smaller bags are filled with a hardware store assortment full of nuts, bolts, screws, washers, flanges, brackets, unfamiliar parts and a thirty page instruction manual in four languages.
Another complexity just about everyone has had is the misfortune of the written drivers test, another holy testament to over complexity times ten. Reading the study material to prepare for a driver's test guarantees you nothing. It only prepares you to know what is in the study material. If they tested on that alone, everyone would get 100%, but no. It is as though having a clear understanding of what you will be tested on is the last important objective they want. It is as though their goal is to make you believe you're inept at the laws of driving and knowing how to drive is secondary.
How about when something is not complex but rather simple? There is a tendency to say simplicity sounds too good to be true or is not as effective, but in my experience this is not always the case.
For example, teachers in schools teach many complex subjects. The very best teachers who I learned the most from did so by simplifying complex information. They also had the ability to describe or illustrate information in multiple ways. This brings me to my objective of this post. Baseball Rule in Black and White "High School Baseball Rules Made Easy" has a simple user friendly format that is easy to read, understand and apply. This is particularly true for those who coach, play or follow baseball.
I simplified finding the rule you are looking for with a table of contents in the front of the book with the corresponding page number. The print in Baseball Rules in Black and White is fourteen font or larger. I did my best to simplify the language. I tried to make only concise statements without run on sentences that tend to overlap and confuse information which frequently are in the high school rule book. I included with each ruling in Baseball Rules in Black and White the high school rule book rule number and the page number so they can be easily found and cross referenced. I did this so in a matter of seconds the reader can find and confirm each ruling between both books.
Baseball Rules in Black and White is not complex. It is simple and effective. So for those of you who solely require the complexity of constructing furniture or a driving exam in order to understand baseball rules, there will always be the high school rule book. This said the high school rule book should never be replaced, but it can be made user friendly.
James C. Bettencourt
baseballrulesinblackandwhite.com
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