by Battle » Sat Dec 10, 2011 10:51 am
Bretman wrote: The section you're refering to is the ASA umpire manual that appears in the back of the "Umpire Edition" of their rule book. It was totally rewritten three years ago- all completely new text and graphics since 2009.
I think this was best summed up by Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott in the Star Trek novel "Spock Must Die". Faced with distinguishing a tachyon-based duplicate from that of the real Commander Spock, Scotty surmised that, "A difference which makes no difference is no difference".
Or, in this case...it walks like a duck, it talks like a duck but, technically...it ain't a duck!
Isn't it odd that up to 3 years ago, the book described a “Force Play” and used at least 2 pages of the Umpire's section (of all places) to do this. It's no wonder why people are so misguided on this. You've got the rule book giving you a direct definition and then the umpire's section, under the freakin' words “Force Play”, describing in detail the force at 1st. Unbelievable...Thanks to all of you for educating me and have a Merry Christmas and a safe New Year.
We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way!