10U House Rules

[DanDare]

House rules can get you in to trouble when situations create loopholes. For instance, our LL Minors division uses a machine after the 3rd walk in an inning and after ball 4 when the bases are loaded. However, what if ball 4 gets away from the catcher and the runner on 3rd steals home? I would think the ball should be live since it does not force in the run. This is how our umpire ruled it and of course the coaches from each team had their own opinion.

How do you think this should be handled? What other house rules have you seen that break the game?

 

[quincy]

I am OK, and like house rules. It is the unwritten house rules that drive me nuts! DD plays ASA and their rules make 100% sense to me.

If it is machine pitch I am surprised you allow stealing of home, you need some more house rules.

(Must slide comes up sometimes and the only time in 30 years I was almost tossed from a game, I should have been)

 

[Ajaywill]

....What other house rules have you seen that break the game?

Almost all of them....

We umpires have a saying: Local rules are made by fools

 

[quincy]

Inning run limits are OK, I wish DD’s Team always played with them.

On my wish list is that some of the umpires would spend 2 minutes reading our local rules before the game starts.

 

[DanDare]

I am OK, and like house rules. It is the unwritten house rules that drive me nuts! DD plays ASA and their rules make 100% sense to me.

If it is machine pitch I am surprised you allow stealing of home, you need some more house rules.

(Must slide comes up sometimes and the only time in 30 years I was almost tossed from a game, I should have been)

We can only steal during kid pitch. In this case, a kid pitcher delivered ball 4 with the bases loaded. The ball got past the catcher and the base runner on third took home. The other team argued that since it was ball 4 she should have to return to third. The umpire ruled that it was a steal. I took the run and laughed at the loophole.

 

[quandofloo]

Inning run limits are OK, I wish DD’s Team always played with them.

On my wish list is that some of the umpires would spend 2 minutes reading our local rules before the game starts.

That is part of our rec house rules. The pregame conference includes a review of local rules before each game.

 

[quincy]

1 of the rules is you must read the rules.

That is like sending an Email out to you stating your Email is not working.

 

[quandofloo]

It worked though. I got to correct an umpire a few times pregame about our rules and keep it from being an issue once everyone gets riled up.

 

[eddieq]

I ump in three or four couple of different rec leagues with different age groups/skill groups within each. I have a laminated card for each with their individual "overrides" in my lineup holder. I go over them pre-game and ask if I missed anything.

Some of the rules are maddening. You have leagues that don't want to play with the infield fly, but then coaches complain that kids get doubled off on a pop-up in the infield that gets dropped. Then there is the "continuous batting order", so you've got no subs since everyone is in the lineup. Someone leaves, gets hurt, has to go to the bathroom, etc. that's not always spelled out (take an out? Skip her with no penalty?). More often than not the local rules/overrides cause more problems by creating loopholes that don't exist if you just play by the standard rules. Then if girls continue to higher level ball, they haven't learned the real rules when coming up in rec ball.

Like ajaywill said, local rules are written by fools. They think they are solving a problem but all they are doing is creating different ones.

 

[MTR]

Almost all of them....

We umpires have a saying: Local rules are made by fools

I love it when you try to explain the downfall of a particular local rule. Quite often just to be ignored.