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.