Gifts That Give!

Recently after presenting Baseball Rules in Black and White to the Vacaville, Ca. Umpires Association my wife, Kristel, and I were busy selling copies to their members. 

One gentleman stood out from the rest of the group, he was wearing his Army fatigues. He approached the table with debit card in hand, I told him to put the card back in his wallet, thanked him for his service to our country and handed him a free copy of my book. We finished our sales that night and drove home excited about how productive the evening went. 

One week later I received a message from U.S. Army Recruiter, Mr. Brian Luth, U.S. Army Recruiting Command and NCOA Umpire who shared the following:

“Just wanted to thank you for giving me your book last week at the Vacaville class! I’ve been able to grasp a lot of things a lot easier since reading it!”

“I would endorse your book to anyone who umpires or coaches! I’m passionate about the game of baseball and anything that makes our game better it’s a +++.”

“Mr. Luth, your honest assessment of how quickly Baseball Rules in Black and White has begun to help you plus your strong endorsement for other umpires and coaches to use this book is a fantastic testimonial we will never forget.” Once again I want to thank Mr. Brian Luth, for his service to our country and secondly for his awesome endorsement.

One Boss Too Many, Try a Hundred!

There is nothing more exhilarating than your first job or being placed in a position of authority and responsibility. To execute a job that impacts others, based solely on your own knowledge and decisions can be empowering and challenging.   

How many have had the misfortune to begin a new job with someone watching your every move? I am sure quite a few have, but how about five people watching you or how about thirty, sixty or even hundreds watching and judging every move and decision you make in your job. One other small matter, all of those watching you are allowed to verbally yell their displeasure with your work performance at any time. 

I have just shared what the working environment frequently is for sports officials. Disdain for the new official’s decisions will be frequent and harsh, but even experienced sports officials are often the subject of public ridicule.  

The next time you feel your job is impossible to take, just think about what being a sports official entails.  Every aspect of an official’s job has to be done perfectly and instantaneously while being critically judged by others.

Taking this into consideration should make most other’s problems and opinions seem less relevant, particularly for those who need to yell.

James Bettencourt

www.baseballrulesinblackandwhite.com

Respected and Credible

It has been fantastic, humbling and surreal all at the same time as hundreds of baseball coaches, umpires and fans from across America, all expressing their sincere appreciation to me for writing Baseball Rules in Black and White. 

Being a novice author I have found those inspiring words very uplifting, but it also made me ask myself the question and most likely others, “Is this too good to be true?” This is why written testimonials, especially from qualified peers are so meaningful.

When a credible and respected person in your profession takes the time to sit down, think what to write, puts it on paper and then shares that opinion publicly with others it is the ultimate compliment.  

I want to express great thanks to all those who have provided their qualified written endorsements for Baseball Rules in Black and White’s positive benefits as a credible baseball rules resource.  I am forever grateful for your respected and valued endorsements.

Sincerely,

James C. Bettencourt

Umpire / Author

Five Star Reviews for Black and White

A good reference book

ByA Customeron December 11, 2016

Review for “Baseball Rules in Black and White”
Baseball Rules in Black and White: "Difficult High School Baseball Rules Made Easy"
Everyone knows the basics, this book handles the tough rules – the rules that coaches, umpires 
and parents argue about. There are some rules that coaches try to take advantage of and
umpires don't know how to call them, like obstruction, interference and awarding bases. And, I
never knew that there were so many details of exactly how the pitcher's feet were supposed to
be, or not be, in pitching stances. The comments and illustrations helped me understand better.
Looking at this book as a parent and a fan of baseball, this is a simple reference book for people
to understand the tough or confusing rules. This should help prevent some arguments and let the 
kids play the game.

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5.0 out of 5 starsAs a baseball mom who raised three children in a ...

ByAmazon Customeron November 3, 2016

As a baseball mom who raised three children in a small Northern California town, baseball was 
equivalent to eating, sleeping and breathing. During a game when an Umpire makes a
questionable call that prompts an appeal from a coach, player or fan, "Oh boy, look out".
Game delay! Jim Bettencourt, well respected Umpire and lovable citizen of our community,
thank you for writing this book. It's simply a gem for any coach, umpire, parent or player to have in
their possession to refer to. This can assist in bringing clarity and simplicity to often times overly
complicated moments in a game. Susan G

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Baseball Rules in Black and White

5.0 out of 5 starsHigh School Umpires: A must read!

ByGilon January 16, 2017

This book should be on every high school umpire's book shelf. It is clear and easy to read.
It clarifies the most complex rules and gives the umpire (reader) a better understanding of
the intent of the rules. I'm sure Mr. Bettencourt will continue updating the content and keep
the book up to date as the rules for high school change. I'll be sharing this book with our
newer umpires at the Federation of Umpires (over 100 members) in the Bay Area!

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5.0 out of 5 starseasy to read and understand

ByAmazon Customeron September 7, 2016

Every parent who has kids in H S Baseball should have this book at their side during games.
Large font, easy to read and understand. Thank you for this book,wish I would have had this
a long time ago

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Baseball Rules in Black and White

5.0 out of 5 starsGreat book, made the rules easy to understand

ByAmazon Customeron December 1, 2016

Great book, made the rules easy to understand, as a Coach, I wish one of these would be
handed to every parent that comes to a game.

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5.0 out of 5 starsGood supplement to rule book

ByAmazon Customeron December 9, 2016

Has a good breakdown of complex rules for easy to access info

Baseball Rules Simplified and Enhanced

Baseball season is just beginning, and I have a great resource for new coaches, umpires, parents, players or fans, I have something that will easily allow you to gain the baseball rule knowledge of a veteran umpire.

One reason baseball rules are so difficult is due to the fact once an infraction takes place, it can easily be complicated or completely changed by continuing play and additional rulings.

My name is James C. Bettencourt, and I’m the author of Baseball Rules in Black and White. I have played, coached, and umpired for several decades.

BaseballRules in Black and White focuses on nineteen rule topics of the most frequent and complicated infractions called in baseball. Each chapter includes dozens of related rulings that have been revised into Basic English. When related rulings are collected under one relevant chapter, it makes it easier for the reader to find, understand and most importantly realize why a ruling was called on the field. The entire book has been written to be reader friendly beginning with a table of contents listed A to Z and in big font, so anyone can find the ruling quickly.

This book has received overwhelming praise and endorsements by NCAA & High School coaches and umpires across America. Baseball Rules in Black and White simplifies and enhances the official  federation rule book.

Baseball Players vs Umpires

Baseball players everywhere utilize or consider using every new, improved, quicker, newest and strongest resource available to improve their game. Baseball players have dramatically improved at their game.

Umpires everywhere use a decade old, iconic, rule book with it's scavenger hunt format to obtain and apply their rule knowledge. Why?

Baseball Rules in Black and White

Partial Information Can Be Very Bad

I finally realized exactly why Baseball Rules in Black and White is a breakthrough in baseball rules resources unlike any other baseball rule book.

This analogy will help explain why. Let’s say I am a driving instructor, and my new driver is in the fast lane. I inform them that we are going to be changing lanes. I then tell them to signal right and turn the wheel into the other lane. Oops, because I left out important information (look over your shoulder & check your mirror) that is needed to safely change lanes we crashed,

                    Baseball Rules in Black and White Web Page  

Due to the way official rule books are written, it becomes very easy to miss important rule information. Many important rules that are critical to the final outcome of a play or game are randomly scattered throughout an official rule book. I call this unique style of rule book writing: a scavenger hunt format. This dangerous style of rule book writing causes thousands of problems every baseball season. This is how many thousands of umpires, coaches and fans become misguided, confused or ejected every baseball season, due to simply not having all the important rule information.  

                           Buy Baseball Rules in Black and White

Each rule topic in Baseball Rules in Black and White includes dozens of pertinent rules under one chapter (nineteen chapters total) that are vital to getting the call correct on the field, this is the goal of every umpire and should be for all rule books.

What are the benefits of Baseball Rules in Black and White?

The main benefit is providing each rule topic a chapter, which includes dozens of related ruling actions. Each chapter has a page number that quickly takes you to dozens of related ruling actions pertinent to that chapter’s topic.  No more randomly flipping pages looking for a rule number to only find that first number is not what you were looking for, or it was the rule you were looking for, but it contains three more rule numbers. Instead of wasting time playing scavenger hunt, you can spend time reading, understanding and retaining what the rule says.  This new reader friendly format surpasses any official baseball rule book's ability to teach baseball rules.

Buy Baseball Rules in Black and White

Excellence in Black and White

Introduction: Hello my name is James Bettencourt, and for over five decades I have either played, coached or umpired baseball.  I have umpired high school baseball for nearly 20 years. In August of 2016 I published Baseball Rules in Black and White “Difficult High School Baseball Rules Made Easy”.
                     Baseball Rules in Black and White Web Page

Why did I write this book? When I began writing, it was to help others and myself in our umpire association to clearly understand the more complicated and randomly located rules in the NFHS rule book.  As the project morphed into a manuscript, I had an epiphany.  I understood that if I could benefit from this totally new rule book format, so could many others.  

What is the book about? Baseball Rules in Black and White is about nineteen frequently called and often problematic rules that I have selected based on my decades of experience in baseball.

Each of these nineteen rules has its own chapter. This book takes the NFHS’s confusing, random and poorly worded rule interpretations, places them into an applicable chapter then revises them into simple, plain English while maintaining the integrity of that rule. In order to confirm that each rule’s validity has been maintained, the book provides the rule and page number from the NFHS rule book that it came from.
                        Buy Baseball Rules in Black and White

The entire book has over 220 additional pertinent ruling actions that include additional summaries, examples and illustrations. My main objectives were to provide clear rule information that could not only be easily understood but quickly recalled and applied on the field. Baseball Rules in Black and White does exactly that!

Team Work and Collaboration in Black and White

I wrote Baseball Rules in Black and White, but this does not mean it was only a one person project.  In order to create the best rules resource possible, I often consulted with rules experts and professionals who umpire at the highest levels in the game. Many suggestions, ideas and perspectives impacted the final draft. 

Baseball Rules in Black and White has always been about collaboration, and our college version is no exception.  I am proud to announce that NCAA Division II umpire Mr. Robert Estep has nearly completed the final editing of the original version “High School Baseball Rules Made Easy” into our soon to be released “College Baseball Rules Made Easy”. 

Mr. Estep’s strong knowledge of baseball rules and understanding of the need for effective educational rules resources makes Baseball Rules in Black and White’s college version a must read rules reference for all NCAA division I, II, III coaches and umpires alike.                    

                                      Baseball Rules in Black and White

Mr. Billy Haze, NCAA Division I College World Series Umpire is a respected and accomplished professional.  Mr. Haze honored Baseball Rules in Black and White with his personal endorsement. We are pleased to announce our “College Baseball Rules Made Easy” will also have Mr. Billy Haze’s meaningful and qualified endorsement.

From the very beginning “Billy” understood the need and benefits that a reader friendly baseball rules resource like Baseball Rules in Black and White could provide to everyone in baseball, not just umpires and coaches. 

One other collaborator from the technology field is Mr. Sean O’Rourke, who has achieved a stellar accomplishment.  That component is the app for Baseball Rules in Black and White, to be released in a few short weeks.  Sean immediately grasped how the technology component could benefit our project and the baseball world. 

                                          Baseball Rules in Black and White

These three well respected gentlemen as well as countless others (indirectly) have contributed to this grand project. As Baseball Rules in Black and White’s series and technology components continue to grow, our mutually beneficial collaborations will as well.