I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL, KID!! I FEEL THE SAME WAY SOMETIMES.

As a public service -- given that we are in an election year -- and in order for the electorate to become better informed of the relevant issues prior to going to the polls, I thought it would be nice if we had a better understanding of The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity. Don't thank me, it's what I'm here for and your welcome as always. 

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/The_basic_laws_of_human_stupidity 

The Laws of Stupidity

[edit]Zeroth Law

There is no upper bound on the amount of stupidity^[1] that can exist within any particular individual.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_Razor 

Hanlon's Razor is an informal logical principle, most commonly attributed to science fiction author Robert Heinlein,^[1] which is generally stated as;

"

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity

"

http://www.searchlores.org/realicra/basiclawsofhumanstupidity.htm 

THE BASIC LAWS OF HUMAN STUPIDITY

by Carlo M. Cipolla
illustrations by James Donnelly

Table of contents

1. The first basic law of human stupidity
2. The second basic law
3. The third (and golden) basic law
4. Frequency distribution
5. The power of stupidity
6. The fourth basic law
7. The fifth basic law

The first basic law of human stupidity

The first basic law of human stupidity asserts without ambiguity that:

Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.

At first, the statement sounds trivial, vague and horribly ungenerous. Closer scrutiny will however reveal its realistic veracity. No matter how high are one's estimates of human stupidity, one is repeatedly and recurrently startled by the fact that:

a) people whom one had once judged rational and intelligent turn out to be unashamedly stupid.

b) day after day, with unceasing monotony, one is harassed in one's activities by stupid individuals who appear suddenly and unexpectedly in the most inconvenient places and at the most improbable moments.

The First Basic Law prevents me from attributing a specific numerical value to the fraction of stupid people within the total population: any numerical estimate would turn out to be an underestimate. Thus in the following pages I will denote the fraction of stupid people within a population by the symbol σ.

The second basic law

Cultural trends now fashionable in the West favour an egalitarian approach to life. People like to think of human beings as the output of a perfectly engineered mass production machine. Geneticists and sociologists especially go out of their way to prove, with an impressive apparatus of scientific data and formulations that all men are naturally equal and if some are more equal than others, this is attributable to nurture and not to nature. I take an exception to this general view. It is my firm conviction, supported by years of observation and experimentation, that men are not equal, that some are stupid and others are not, and that the difference is determined by nature and not by cultural forces or factors. One is stupid in the same way one is red-haired; one belongs to the stupid set as one belongs to a blood group. A stupid man is born a stupid man by an act of Providence. Although convinced that fraction of human beings are stupid and that they are so because of genetic traits, I am not a reactionary trying to reintroduce surreptitiously class or race discrimination. I firmly believe that stupidity is an indiscriminate privilege of all human groups and is uniformly distributed according to a constant proportion. This fact is scientifically expressed by the Second Basic Law which states that

The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.

In this regard, Nature seems indeed to have outdone herself. It is well known that Nature manages, rather mysteriously, to keep constant the relative frequency of certain natural phenomena. For instance, whether men proliferate at the Northern Pole or at the Equator, whether the matching couples are developed or underdeveloped, whether they are black, red, white or yellow the female to male ratio among the newly born is a constant, with a very slight prevalence of males. We do not know how Nature achieves this remarkable result but we know that in order to achieve it Nature must operate with large numbers. The most remarkable fact about the frequency of stupidity is that Nature succeeds in making this frequency equal to the probability quite independently from the size of the group.

Thus one finds the same percentage of stupid people whether one is considering very large groups or one is dealing with very small ones. No other set of observable phenomena offers such striking proof of the powers of Nature.

The evidence that education has nothing to do with the probability was provided by experiments carried on in a large number of universities all over the world. One may distinguish the composite population which constitutes a university in five major groups, namely the blue-collar workers, the white-collar employees, the students, the administrators and the professors.

Whenever I analyzed the blue-collar workers I found that the fraction σ of them were stupid. As σ's value was higher than I expected (First Law), paying my tribute to fashion I thought at first that segregation, poverty, lack of education were to be blamed. But moving up the social ladder I found that the same ratio was prevalent among the white-collar employees and among the students. More impressive still were the results among the professors. Whether I considered a large university or a small college, a famous institution or an obscure one, I found that the same fraction σ of the professors are stupid. So bewildered was I by the results, that I made a special point to extend my research to a specially selected group, to a real elite, the Nobel laureates. The result confirmed Nature's supreme powers: σ fraction of the Nobel laureates are stupid.

This idea was hard to accept and digest but too many experimental results proved its fundamental veracity. The Second Basic Law is an iron law, and it does not admit exceptions. The Women's Liberation Movement will support the Second Basic Law as it shows that stupid individuals are proportionately as numerous among men as among women. The underdeveloped of the Third World will probably take solace at the Second Basic Law as they can find in it the proof that after all the developed are not so developed. Whether the Second Basic Law is liked or not, however, its implications are frightening: the Law implies that whether you move in distinguished circles or you take refuge among the head-hunters of Polynesia, whether you lock yourself into a monastery or decide to spend the rest of your life in the company of beautiful and lascivious women, you always have to face the same percentage of stupid people - which percentage (in accordance with the First Law) will always surpass your expectations.

The third (and golden) basic law

The Third Basic Law assumes, although it does not state it explicitly, that human beings fall into four basic categories: the helpless, the intelligent, the bandit and the stupid. It will be easily recognized by the perspicacious reader that these four categories correspond to the four areas I, H, S, B, of the basic graph (see below).

If Tom takes an action and suffers a loss while producing a gain to Dick, Tom's mark will fall in field H: Tom acted helplessly. If Tom takes an action by which he makes a gain while yielding a gain also to Dick, Tom's mark will fall in area I: Tom acted intelligently. If Tom takes an action by which he makes a gain causing Dick a loss, Tom's mark will fall in area B: Tom acted as a bandit. Stupidity is related to area S and to all positions on axis Y below point O. As the Third Basic Law explicitly clarifies:

A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.

When confronted for the first time with the Third Basic Law, rational people instinctively react with feelings of skepticism and incredulity. The fact is that reasonable people have difficulty in conceiving and understanding unreasonable behaviour. But let us abandon the lofty plane of theory and let us look pragmatically at our daily life. We all recollect occasions in which a fellow took an action which resulted in his gain and our loss: we had to deal with a bandit. We also recollect cases in which a fellow took an action which resulted in his loss and our gain: we had to deal with a helpless person. We can recollect cases in which a fellow took an action by which both parties gained: he was intelligent. Such cases do indeed occur. But upon thoughtful reflection you must admit that these are not the events which punctuate most frequently our daily life. Our daily life is mostly, made of cases in which we lose money and/or time and/or energy and/or appetite, cheerfulness and good health because of the improbable action of some preposterous creature who has nothing to gain and indeed gains nothing from causing us embarrassment, difficulties or harm. Nobody knows, understands or can possibly explain why that preposterous creature does what he does. In fact there is no explanation - or better there is only one explanation: the person in question is stupid.

Frequency distribution

Most people do not act consistently. Under certain circumstances a given person acts intelligently and under different circumstances the same person will act helplessly. The only important exception to the rule is represented by the stupid people who normally show a strong proclivity toward perfect consistency in all fields of human endeavours.

From all that proceeds, it does not follow, that we can chart on the basic graph only stupid individuals. We can calculate for each person his weighted average position in the plane of figure 1 quite independently from his degree of inconsistency. A helpless person may occasionally behave intelligently and on occasion he may perform a bandit's action. But since the person in question is fundamentally helpless most of his action will have the characteristics of helplessness. Thus the overall weighted average position of all the actions of such a person will place him in the H quadrant of the basic graph.

The fact that it is possible to place on the graph individuals instead of their actions allows some digression about the frequency of the bandit and stupid types.

The perfect bandit is one who, with his actions, causes to other individuals losses equal to his gains. The crudest type of banditry is theft. A person who robs you of 100 pounds without causing you an extra loss or harm is a perfect bandit: you lose 100 pounds, he gains 100 pounds. In the basic graph the perfect bandits would appear on a 45-degree diagonal line that divides the area B into two perfectly symmetrical sub-areas (line OM of figure 2).

However the "perfect" bandits are relatively few. The line OM divides the area B into two sub-areas, B₁, and B₂, and by far the largest majority of the bandits falls somewhere in one of these two sub-areas.

The bandits who fall in area B₁ are those individuals whose actions yield to them profits which are larger than the losses they cause to other people. All bandits who are entitled to a position in area B₁are bandits with overtones of intelligence and as they get closer to the right side of the X axis they share more and more the characteristics of the intelligent person.

Unfortunately the individuals entitled to a position in the B₁ area are not very numerous. Most bandits actually fall in area B₂. The individuals who fall in this area are those whose actions yield to them gains inferior to the losses inflicted to other people. If someone kills you in order to rob you of fifty pounds or if he murders you in order to spend a weekend with your wife at Monte Carlo, we can be sure that he is not a perfect bandit. Even by using his values to measure his gains (but still using your values to measure your losses) he falls in the B₂ area very close to the border of sheer stupidity. Generals who cause vast destruction and innumerable casualties in return for a promotion or a medal fall in the same area.

The frequency distribution of the stupid people is totally different from that of the bandit. While bandits are mostly scattered over an area stupid people are heavily concentrated along one line, specifically on the Y axis below point O. The reason for this is that by far the majority of stupid people are basically and unwaveringly stupid - in other words they perseveringly insist in causing harm and losses to other people without deriving any gain, whether positive or negative.

There are however people who by their improbable actions not only cause damages to other people but in addition hurt themselves. They are a sort of super-stupid who, in our system of accounting, will appear somewhere in the area S to the left of the Y axis.

The power of stupidity

It is not difficult to understand how social, political and institutional power enhances the damaging potential of a stupid person. But one still has to explain and understand what essentially it is that makes a stupid person dangerous to other people - in other words what constitutes the power of stupidity.

Essentially stupid people are dangerous and damaging because reasonable people find it difficult to imagine and understand unreasonable behaviour. An intelligent person may understand the logic of a bandit. The bandit's actions follow a pattern of rationality: nasty rationality, if you like, but still rationality. The bandit wants a plus on his account. Since he is not intelligent enough to devise ways of obtaining the plus as well as providing you with a plus, he will produce his plus by causing a minus to appear on your account. All this is bad, but it is rational and if you are rational you can predict it. You can foresee a bandit's actions, his nasty manoeuvres and ugly aspirations and often can build up your defenses.

With a stupid person all this is absolutely impossible as explained by the Third Basic Law. A stupid creature will harass you for no reason, for no advantage, without any plan or scheme and at the most improbable times and places. You have no rational way of telling if and when and how and why the stupid creature attacks. When confronted with a stupid individual you are completely at his mercy. Because the stupid person's actions do not conform to the rules of rationality, it follows that:

a) one is generally caught by surprise by the attack; b) even when one becomes aware of the attack, one cannot organize a rational defense, because the attack itself lacks any rational structure.

The fact that the activity and movements of a stupid creature are absolutely erratic and irrational not only makes defense problematic but it also makes any counter-attack extremely difficult - like trying to shoot at an object which is capable of the most improbable and unimaginable movements. This is what both Dickens and Schiller had in mind when the former stated that "with stupidity and sound digestion man may front much" and the latter wrote that "against stupidity the very Gods fight in vain."

The fourth basic law

That helpless people, namely those who in our accounting system fall into the H area, do not normally recognize how dangerous stupid people are, is not at all surprising. Their failure is just another expression of their helplessness. The truly amazing fact, however, is that also intelligent people and bandits often fail to recognize the power to damage inherent in stupidity. It is extremely difficult to explain why this should happen and one can only remark that when confronted with stupid individuals often intelligent men as well as bandits make the mistake of indulging in feelings of self-complacency and contemptuousness instead of immediately secreting adequate quantities of adrenaline and building up defenses.

One is tempted to believe that a stupid man will only do harm to himself but this is confusing stupidity with helplessness. On occasion one is tempted to associate oneself with a stupid individual in order to use him for one's own schemes. Such a manoeuvre cannot but have disastrous effects because a) it is based on a complete misunderstanding of the essential nature of stupidity and b) it gives the stupid person added scope for the exercise of his gifts. One may hope to outmanoeuvre the stupid and, up to a point, one may actually do so. But because of the erratic behaviour of the stupid, one cannot foresee all the stupid's actions and reactions and before long one will be pulverized by the unpredictable moves of the stupid partner.

This is clearly summarized in the Fourth Basic Law which states that:

Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.

Through centuries and millennia, in public as in private life, countless individuals have failed to take account of the Fourth Basic Law and the failure has caused mankind incalculable losses.

The fifth basic law

Instead of considering the welfare of the individual let us consider the welfare of the society, regarded in this context as the algebraic sum of the individual conditions. A full understanding of the Fifth Basic Law is essential to the analysis. It may be parenthetically added here that of the Five Basic Laws, the Fifth is certainly the best known and its corollary is quoted very frequently. The Fifth Basic Law states that:

A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

The corollary of the Law is that:

A stupid person is more dangerous than a bandit.

The result of the action of a perfect bandit (the person who falls on line OM of figure 2) is purely and simply a transfer of wealth and/or welfare. After the action of a perfect bandit, the bandit has a plus on his account which plus is exactly equivalent to the minus he has caused to another person. The society as a whole is neither better nor worse off. If all members of a society were perfect bandits the society would remain stagnant but there would be no major disaster. The whole business would amount to massive transfers of wealth and welfare in favour of those who would take action. If all members of the society would take action in regular turns, not only the society as a whole but also individuals would find themselves in a perfectly steady state of no change.

When stupid people are at work, the story is totally different. Stupid people cause losses to other people with no counterpart of gains on their own account. Thus the society as a whole is impoverished. The system of accounting which finds expression in the basic graphs shows that while all actions of individuals falling to the right of the line POM (see fig. 3) add to the welfare of a society; although in different degrees, the actions of all individuals falling to the left of the same line POM cause a deterioration.

In other words the helpless with overtones of intelligence (area H₁), the bandits with overtones of intelligence (area B₁) and above all the intelligent (area I) all contribute, though in different degrees, to accrue to the welfare of a society. On the other hand the bandits with overtones of stupidity (area B₂) and the helpless with overtones of stupidity (area H₂) manage to add losses to those caused by stupid people thus enhancing the nefarious destructive power of the latter group.

All this suggests some reflection on the performance of societies. According to the Second Basic Law, the fraction of stupid people is a constant σ which is not affected by time, space, race, class or any other sociocultural or historical variable. It would be a profound mistake to believe the number of stupid people in a declining society is greater than in a developing society. Both such societies are plagued by the same percentage of stupid people. The difference between the two societies is that in the society which performs poorly:

a) the stupid members of the society are allowed by the other members to become more active and take more actions; b) there is a change in the composition of the non-stupid section with a relative decline of populations of areas I, H₁ and B₁ and a proportionate increase of populations H₂ and B₂.

This theoretical presumption is abundantly confirmed by an exhaustive analysis of historical cases. In fact the historical analysis allows us to reformulate the theoretical conclusions in a more factual way and with more realistic detail.

Whether one considers classical, or medieval, or modern or contemporary times one is impressed by the fact that any country moving uphill has its unavoidable σ fraction of stupid people. However the country moving uphill also has an unusually high fraction of intelligent people who manage to keep the σ fraction at bay and at the same time produce enough gains for themselves and the other members of the community to make progress a certainty.

In a country which is moving downhill, the fraction of stupid people is still equal to σ; however in the remaining population one notices among those in power an alarming proliferation of the bandits with overtones of stupidity (sub-area B₂ of quadrant B in figure 3) and among those not in power an equally alarming growth in the number of helpless individuals (area H in basic graph, fig.1). Such change in the composition of the non-stupid population inevitably strengthens the destructive power of the σ fraction and makes decline a certainty. And the country goes to Hell.

There is genius at work in this thesis. It came round about by way of reader Sam Keen, who sent to the UK a thin gray monograph printed anonimously in mid-1986 in Bologna, Italy. The trail eventually led to Carlo M. Cipolla, the author, who was Professor of Economics at UC Berkeley but, alas died in 2000 and left behind a bunch of (half-american) offsprings... who promptly tried to scrap money out of everything he had written, even if -as in the case of this small text- clearly earmarked and STATED by the Author in its 1986 version as intended for the public domain (and yes, stated again in 1992, despite having re-published this text in 1988, slightly modified, in his "Allegro ma non troppo" copyrighted collection).

This copy comes from Whole Earth Review (Spring 1987 pp 2 - 7) and is anyway easy to find all over the web and/or on any webarchive facility à la "wayback machine".

There isn't of course, nor cannot be, any valid patent or bogus "copyright" on this work that Professor Cipolla personally WANTED to have in the public domain and incidentally BECAUSE OF ITS VERY OPEN SPREADING is the only one that has made -and still makes- him famous all over the web.

We firmly believe that this belongs into any reality cracker's quiver, and that the best onor to the Author and the best chance that anyone will "buy" his other texts (frankly also equally easy to find in many "grey" areas of Internet, but waay less interesting) is to allow this nice little essay to be spread around as originally clearly intended by Professor Cipolla himself.

"Life is tough; it's tougher if you're stupid" - John Wayne

Life on the Field - 2012 Top Baseball / Softball Rules Myths

That's a lot of myths. No wonder folks are so confused. - CS

From Officiating.com:

http://forum.officiating.com/baseball/91061-top-baseball-softball-rules-myths-2012-edition.html 

Top Baseball/Softball Rules Myths, 2012 Edition

I'm a little slow getting this out this year. I've fallen to the dark side and have been coaching this spring.  However, I've been recently asked to do a summer rec ball umpire's clinic for volunteers, and figured I better go ahead and update the list.

This is mostly from the E-teamz "40 Rules Myths" article from years ago, but has been modified by adding a few addtional myths that seem to keep floating around my area. Both baseball and softball is included in the same list as umpires in this area are expected to do both. 

Critique and corrections are welcome.

PLEASE REMEMBER that these are MYTHS and therefore all FALSE unless otherwise noted by high school or local league rules.

The Batter

#1 The hands are part of the bat. FALSE. The hands are part of the batter. The rules state that a touch of any kind is contact with any part of the person or body. The hands are not exempt from this rule. If a batter is hit in the hands by a pitch, he/she will be allowed to go to first base provided that he/she did not swing, the pitch wasn't in the strike zone, and he/she made an attempt to get out of the way of the pitch. If the batter does swing at the pitch and is hit in the hand, the pitch is ruled a dead-ball strike, not a foul ball.

#2 If the batter breaks his/her wrists when swinging, it is a strike. FALSE. It is a strike if, in the umpire's judgment, the batter attempted to hit the ball. Wrist motion has no bearing in this decision.

#3 The batter cannot be called out for interference if he/she is in the batter's box. FALSE. If the batter has reasonable time to vacate the batter's box, he/she must do so or risk interference being called.

#4 The batter may not switch batter's boxes after two strikes. FALSE. The only time the batter may not switch batter's boxes is when the pitcher is in position ready to pitch.

#5 The batter who batted out of order is person declared out. FALSE. The proper batter is the one called out. Any hit or advance made by the batter or runners due to the hit, walk, error, or other reason is nullified. The next batter is the one who followed the batter who was called out.

#6 The batter may never run to first base on an uncaught third strike if first base is occupied at the time of pitch. FALSE. If there are two outs, the batter may run even if first base is occupied.

#7 The batter may not run to first base if the catcher cleanly catches a pitch for strike three that hits the ground first. FALSE. A catch is defined in part as, "The act of a fielder in getting secure possession in his hand or glove of a live ball in flight." A ball that bounces or hits the ground is no longer in flight.

#8 The batter is out if he/she starts for the dugout before going to first after an uncaught third strike. FALSE. In leagues using professional baseball rules, the batter is declared out once he/she leaves the dirt area surrounding home plate. In high school rules, the batter is not declared out until he/she enters the dugout, the next pitch is thrown, or the inning ended because all infielders left the diamond.

#9 If the batter does not pull the bat back while in the bunting position, it is an automatic strike. FALSE in baseball, but TRUE in softball. A strike is defined in part as, "A legal pitch that is attempted to be hit by the batter and is missed." In baseball, merely holding the bat in the bunting position is not to be interpreted as the batter attempted to hit the ball, but in softball, holding the bat in the strike zone is to be interpreted as a bunt attempt.

#10 The batter is out if a bunted ball bounces back up and hits the bat while the batter is holding the bat. FALSE. If the batter is still in the batter's box when this happens, it is ruled a foul ball.

#11 The batter is out if his/her foot touches the plate. FALSE. In leagues using professional baseball rules, but TRUE in high school rules. In leagues using professional baseball rules, a batter is called out only if the batter's foot is entirely outside the batter's box and is touching the ground outside the box when he/she contacts the pitch with the bat. He/She is not out if he/she does not contact the pitch with the bat. There is no statement about touching the plate. The toe could be on the plate and the heel could be touching the line of the box, which means the foot is not entirely outside the box. In leagues using high school rules, a batter would be declared out if his/her foot is touching the plate, but again, contact must be made with the pitch by the bat or otherwise no call would be made.

#12 A pitch that bounces to the plate cannot be hit. FALSE in baseball and fast pitch softball, but this is TRUE in slow pitch softball.

#13 The batter does not get first base if hit by a pitch after it bounces. FALSE. No such rule exists. The pitch hitting the ground means nothing.

#14 The ball is dead on a foul tip. FALSE. The term "foul tip" is often misused. The definition of foul tip is, "A batted ball that goes sharp and direct from the bat to the catcher's hands and is legally caught." If the ball is not caught, it is a foul ball and the play is dead. However, a foul tip remains a live ball just like a swinging strike.
#15 The batter is out when he/she throws the bat. FALSE. In professional baseball rules, there is no specific mention of throwing a bat, although leagues using this rule set usually have supplemental rules in regards to this. In many amateur leagues (including high school), the rule is to warn the offending batter after playing action concludes, then eject the next offender from the same team. If the act is judged to be intentional, then the batter may be ejected without warning. In any case, the batter is not declared out. If the thrown bat interferes with the defense in making a play, then the batter may be called out, but the out would be for the interference, not for throwing the bat.

Running to First

#16 The batter-runner must turn to his/her right after over-running first base. FALSE. The batter may turn in either direction and not be in jeopardy of being tagged out unless, in the umpire's judgment, attempts to advance to second base.

#17 The batter may not overrun first base when he/she gets a base-on-balls without liability to be put out. FALSE in professional rules baseball and all softball codes, but TRUE in high school baseball.

#18 The batter-runner is always out if he/she runs outside the running lane after a bunted ball. FALSE. The batter is declared out only if he/she is outside the running lane and interferes with the defense fielding the ball or receiving a throw at first base.

__________________

Base Running

#19 A runner is out if he slaps hands or high-fives other players after a homerun is hit over the fence. FALSE. A runner is only out if a player (who is not a runner) or coach physically assists a player in running the bases. A high-five or any other congratulatory gesture is not considered a physical assist.

#20 Tie goes to the runner. FALSE in reality, even if it may be true in theory. The rules states that a runner is out if he/she or the base he/she is forced be touched before he/she reaches such a base. Literally translating that rule, it can be argued that if the defense and the runner reach the base simultaneously, then runner is safe since the defense did not reach the base before the runner. Thus, the often misquoted rule, "Tie goes to the runner" is brought up. In reality, though, it is impossible to judge a true tie, and an umpire should determine if the runner beat the defense or if the defense beat the runner.

#21 The runner gets the base he/she is going to plus one on a ball thrown out-of-play. FALSE. The "1+1" myth that is often quoted does not exist in the rules. The runner is awarded two bases from time of pitch if the ball thrown out of play is the first play made on the infield. If the throw is the second or subsequent play made from the infield or is any throw from the outfield, then the runner is awarded two bases from the last base the runner occupied from the time of throw. This means, for example, if a runner is returning to first base to tag up on a caught fly ball and the fielder throws the ball out of play, the runner would be awarded third base.

#22 Anytime a coach touches a runner, the runner is out. FALSE. Again, the runner must be physically assisted with his/her base running to be declared out.

#23 Runners may never run the bases in reverse order. FALSE. In some cases, the runner is required to run the bases in reverse order, such as when he/she must tag up on a particularly long fly ball that is caught. The only time the runner is declared out is when he/she is doing something to deliberately confuse the defense or is making a travesty of the game.

#24 If the runner doesn't slide on a close play, he/she is out. FALSE in most written rule sets including high school rules. The runner only needs to seek to avoid contact, and if he/she can do so without sliding, then that is allowed. Contact between the runner and the defense can still occur and no call may be made. However, if a runner is judged by the umpire to have maliciously contacted a defensive player, that runner can be called out and ejected from the game. Some local leagues do have special slide rules for some age groups, but again, these rules are not written in either professional baseball or high school rules books.

#25 The runner is safe when hit by a batted ball while touching a base. FALSE in baseball, but TRUE in softball. In baseball, the runner is declared out if struck by a batted ball at any time unless it is first touched by a fielder or has passed an infielder (not including the pitcher) and no other infielder has a chance of fielding the ball. If the runner is hit by a batted ball while on base during an infield fly situation as determined by the infield fly rule, then he/she is not out, but if he/she is off a base and this occurs, then both the runner and the batter are out. In softball, the runner is allowed to remain on base and will not be declared out if struck by a batted ball. However, in all codes, if the runner intentionally interferes in any way for any reason, he/she will be declared out. 

#26 A runner is out if he runs out of the baseline to avoid a fielder who is fielding a batted ball. FALSE. The runner is required to avoid a fielder who is fielding a batted ball. If he/she does not avoid a fielder who is fielding a batted ball, he/she will be declared out. The runner is only ruled out for being out of the baseline when he/she is trying to avoid being tagged. The runner's baseline is established when the tag attempt occurs and is a straight line from the runner to the base he is attempting to reach safely. The baseline is not defined as a straight line between two consecutive bases as some people assume.

#27 It is always okay for a runner to contact a fielder who is standing in the baseline. FALSE. As stated above, the runner is required to avoid a fielder who is fielding a batted ball. The baseline does not belong to the runner. If the fielder is not fielding a batter ball and contact occurs between he/she and the runner or if the runner has to alter his/her path, then defensive interference (obstruction) is called.

#28 Runners may not advance when an infield fly is called. FALSE. An infield fly ball as determined by the infield fly rule is a live ball, and runners may advance after tagging up when the ball is caught. They may also advance without tagging up if the ball is

not caught.

#29 Two runners may never touch the same base at the same time. FALSE, however one of them is in jeopardy of being put out. If a runner is forced to advance to the next base, the lead runner is out if tagged. If the lead runner is not forced, then the trail runner is out if tagged.

Fair/Foul, Foul Tips, and Others

#30 If a batted ball hits the plate, it's a foul ball. FALSE. Home plate is in fair territory just as all the other bases. A batted ball that hits first or third base is a fair ball, and home plate is no different.

#31 If a player's feet are in fair territory when the ball is touched, it is a fair ball. FALSE. It is the position of the ball that determines whether it is fair or foul. If a fielder has his feet in fair territory but reaches over the foul line and touches the ball in foul territory, then it would be a foul ball.

#32 A runner may not steal on a foul tip. FALSE. As previously stated in the section entitled, "The Batter", the ball is live on a foul tip. Runners may steal because the ball is live.

#33 If a fielder holds a fly ball for two seconds, it is a catch. FALSE. A catch is determined when a fielder has complete control of the ball in his/her hand or glove. Time is not a factor in an umpire's judgment in determining a catch.

#34 If a fielder catches a fly ball and then falls over the outfield fence, it is a homerun. FALSE. This is an out. However, if a fielder enters dead ball territory with the ball, all runners will be awarded on base unless the catch was the third out.

#35 The ball is dead anytime the ball hits an umpire. FALSE. A thrown ball that hits an umpire is live unless the ball becomes lodged in the umpires uniform or equipment. A batted ball that hits an umpire is dead unless the ball was deflected off a defensive player or has passed a defensive player other than the pitcher. Umpire's interference may also be called if the umpire interferes with a catcher's throw.

#36 The home plate umpire can overrule the other umpires at anytime. FALSE. No umpire (including the home plate umpire or umpire-in-chief) has the authority to set aside or question decisions made by another umpire within the limits of the respective duties as outlined in the rules. An umpire may request help from another umpire in a decision, but ultimately it is the requesting umpire who will make the final decision.

__________________

Appeals

#37 It is always a force out when a runner is called out for not tagging up on a fly ball. FALSE. Failing to retouch is not a force. If a runner is called out for the third out on appeal for not retouching (tagging up), any preceding runs score unless the appeal is made before the runners cross the plate.

#38 An appeal on a runner who misses a base cannot be a force out. FALSE. A runner who missed a base they were forced to and is properly appealed for the third out can nullify any runs the would have scored.

#39 No run can score when a runner is called out for the third out for not tagging up. FALSE. If a runner is called out for the third out on appeal for not retouching (tagging up), any preceding runs score unless the appeal is made before they cross the plate.

#40 You must tag the base with your foot on a force out or appeal. FALSE. Any portion of the fielder's body or glove may be used to touch the base. Even if the fielder has the ball in his/her hand and touches the base with his/her empty glove, an out would still be recorded. In high schools rules, the defense may also make an appeal on a runner during a dead ball. Any defensive player or coach can to this by requesting time and asking the umpire to appeal the infraction. In any case, an appeal must be made before the next pitch or play.

#41 The ball must always be returned to the pitcher before an appeal can be made. FALSE. Appeals may either be made at anytime during a live ball by touching a base that a runner failed to tag up on a fly ball or for missing a base. In high school rules, the dead ball appeal procedure described above could also apply.

Pitching

#42 The ball is always immediately dead on a balk. FALSE in professional baseball and softball, but TRUE in high school baseball. In high school baseball, the ball is immediately dead, and all runners will advance one base. If the ball is pitched and the batter hits it, play does not continue. In professional baseball, a balk is a delayed dead ball, and the batter may hit the pitch. If he/she does and all runners and the batter advance successfully to the next base, then the balk is ignored. If they do not, then play is stopped, the runners advance one base from their position at the time of the pitch and the batter is returned to the plate to continue his at-bat with the previous ball and strikes count. In softball, the term "balk" is replaced with the term "illegal pitch". In softball, an illegal pitch is still a delayed dead ball and the batter may attempt to hit the pitch. In softball, after play ends, the batting team may elect to either take the illegal pitch penalty and have the batter return to the plate to continue his/her at-bat, or they may take the result of the play.

#43 With no runners on base, it is a ball if the pitcher starts his windup and then stops. FALSE in professional baseball, but TRUE in high school baseball and softball. In professional baseball, this is just a no-pitch. 

#44 The pitcher must come to a set position before a pick-off throw. FALSE. The pitcher must come set only before pitching to the batter. This is a baseball rule only as pickoffs are not used in softball.

#45 The pitcher must step off the rubber before a pick-off throw. FALSE. The pitcher may remain in contact with the rubber during a pick-off. This is a baseball rule only as pickoffs are not used in softball.

#46 The pitcher's foot must remain in contact with the rubber until the release of the ball. FALSE. Coaches teaching the proper technique encourage pushing off the rubber during the pitch. In softball, the pivot foot (the one doing the pushing) must drag and remain in contact with the ground.

#47 In softball, the pitcher must release the ball after the first time it passes the hip toward the plate. FALSE. By rule, the pitcher is not allowed to make more than one and one-half revolutions on a pitch, but starting behind the hip, wind milling, and releasing the ball is not one and one-half revolutions.

Life out on the Field....the Knuckle - Slider?? Seriously??

This is the kind of stuff we deal with seemingly every weekend in youth sports. The administrators tinker with the rules and the coaches and players try to figure out "work-arounds" to the application of the rules. I went to the best source I know of in the area of pitching and safety issues -- Dr. Mike Marshall. He was gracious, as always, with an interesting reply.

Dr. Mike Marshall's Pitching Coach Services
http://www.drmikemarshall.com/

-----

I'm umpiring an 11U tournament where the pitching restriction is no
curve-balls allowed. Prior to the game, the coach of one team said they
exchanged e-mails discussing how their pitchers throw a
"knuckle-slider". I had never heard of such a beast before, but per
Wikipedia, it exists as such:

"The knuckle slider is an uncommon pitch in most of baseball. It is a
pitch that breaks to one side at about the same speed as a normal
slider. Its intended use is to make the batter over-anticipate and swing
early. Also, because of the pitches breaking nature, it is very hard for
the batter to make good contact. Often, these pitches will foul off or
pop up. Hot to throw: Start off with a knuckle curve, then turn your
wrist 90 degrees to the right (for a right-handed pitcher). There is no
need to supernate (they mean 'supinate')or pronate your arm because is
already cocked. Throw it with the same arm speed as your fastball."

Of course, I've heard of its close cousin, the knuckle-curve:
Again, per Wikipedia:

"In Major League history, the term knuckle curve has been used to
describe three entirely different pitches. The first, more common pitch
called the knuckle curve is really a standard curveball, thrown with one
or more of the index or mean fingers bent. According to practitioners,
this gives them a better grip on the ball and allows for tighter spin
and greater movement. In all other respects, this knuckle curve is
identical to the standard curveball."

My dilemma as an umpire is enforcement. In a one man crew, I'm somewhat
limited, so I apply the "duck-rule" i.e. if it looks like a curveball,
and rotates like a curveball, and moves like a curveball -- it's a
curveball. They can call it a lampshade for all I care.

The team in question's first pitcher throws a couple of hanging
spinners, both of which get crushed, so I don't penalize. The second
kid, a lefty, throws a nice little bender. ILLEGAL. The coach moans a
little, cites their "gentleman's agreement" that the knuckle-slider is
OK and safe to pitch. I tell him I neither know nor care about his
pre-game e-mails, I'm going by what I see and their tournament rules. I
explained to their other coach (they had a pitching/hitting coach, it
seems) that if the rules are "curveball bad" in my opinion "slider
worse" so why they think that calling it a knuckle-slider helps matters
is beyond me. They call it a "safety pitch" rule for a reason.

BTW, the kid could not throw a FB for a strike, and believe me when I
say at that level (and most others), I'm considered to have a
pitcher-friendly strike zone. Sadly, it seems like the "hitting coach"
understood my argument (and the suggestion that maybe he should learn to
throw the FB for more strikes, mix in a straight change here and there)
more than the "pitching coach" and dad.

1. Am I missing anything on the alleged safety of knuckle-curves or
sliders?

Their point is since it doesn't require the pitcher to twist his wrist,
it's safe.

From an enforcement standpoint, there's no way youth umpires are going
to be able to see that and call balls-strikes (never mind balks, and
they do lead/steal) at the same time.

Thanks for letting me vent a little. Just when I thought I'd seen and
heard it all....

Charles Slavik
Phone: (813) 335-8678
<"( );::::::;~ ~;::::::;( )">


Questions/Answers 2012
http://www.drmikemarshall.com/Question-Answer2012.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Dear Sir,

    The difference between sliders and curves is that sliders spiral
with a horizontal spin axis that points toward home plate and that
curves rotate with a horizontal spin axis that points sideways.

    The knuckle curve release means that baseball pitchers use their
Thumb and Little finger to hold the baseball against the front surface
of the finger nails of the Index and Middle fingers and release the
baseball by extending their Index and Middle fingers.

    With regard to your obligation to enforce the no curve ball rule: I
agree with your "if it looks like a curve ball, then it is illegal"
interpretation.

    However, I disagree with why the organizers of this 11U tournament
do not allow the baseball pitchers to throw curve balls.

    You said: Their point is since it doesn't require the pitcher to
twist his wrist, it's safe.

    That means that, to throw curves, when baseball pitchers do twist
their wrist, they will injure themselves.

    By twist their wrist, if they mean that baseball pitchers 'supinate'
(turn their forearm such that the thumb of the pitching hand points
upward and release their curve over the top of the Index finger, then
throwing these curve balls is injurious.

    So, the question is: Are the organizers of this 11U tournament
against throwing all methods for throwing curves or just the
'supination' curve technique?

    Because, as you said, it is impossible to determine whether baseball
pitchers 'supinated' the release of their curve or extended the Index
and Middle finger to release their curve, I agree with your ruling.

    Nevertheless, the knuckle-curve release is not injurious. However,
as you also noted, it is very difficult to master.

    I designed another way for baseball pitchers to throw injury-free
curves that I have watched eleven year old baseball pitchers learn in
one day.

    I call this pitch, my Maxline Pronation Curve.

    When my baseball pitchers throw pitches toward the pitching arm side
of home plate, I call those pitches my Maxline Pitchers.

    Therefore, the difference between how I teach my curve versus the
'supination' and 'knuckle' curves is that my baseball pitchers 'pronate'
the release of my curve.

    Whether 11 years old or 21 years old, the 'twist' of the wrist that
injures baseball pitchers is that they 'supinate' their pitching forearm
through release. This action causes baseball pitchers of all ages to
bang the bones in the back of their pitching elbow together.

    Needless to say, banging the bones in the back of the pitching elbow
is not a good thing to do. When baseball pitchers 'supinate' the release
of their curves, they seriously and irreparably damage those bones.

    However, when baseball pitchers use the nails of their Index and
Middle  fingers to push the baseball forward or 'pronate' the release of
their curves, they do not bang the bones on the back of their pitching
elbow together.

    Therefore, I will teach baseball pitchers of all ages how to throw
my Maxline Pronation Curve. It is not injurious and, to become the best
baseball pitchers that they can be, all baseball pitchers must master
this pitch.

    Sincerely,

Dr. Mike Marshall

Happy Mother's Day

That about sums it up. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Science Or Myth? Breaking Curveballs In Baseball

File this under, "Sometimes we know more than we can prove". Yes Virginia, a curveball does curve. I can't believe that this is still a question in some minds.

From science20.com:
Science Or Myth? Breaking Curveballs In Baseball:

"Baseball players will tell you that a fastball can rise - and elementary physics says it can also, the same way an airplane rises because the teardrop shape of a wing causes air to go over the top faster than below the flatter bottom, 'sucking' it into the air.    Sure, if the baseball is going 200 MPH it can happen.  But they don't.

Likewise, curveballs can break sharply, some say, while others disagree, including us a year ago (see Does A Curveball In Baseball Really Break?).   It's an illusion.  Still a K if you miss them often enough, though, so players are forgiven if they are convinced they got beat by science."

HR Physics:
http://www.stevetheump.com/HR_physics.htm


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COLLEGIATE BASEBALL ARTICLE: Baseball Clinic Ed Cheff

Efficient use of game / practice time to achieve results. How many times do we see times just going through the motions of some of these drills rather than executing a productive plan of action to improve.

From Collegiate Baseball:
Baseball Clinic Ed Cheff:


Amazing In-Game Practice


Cheff said he came up with a unique in-game practice regimen for infielders to help them become better at double plays in the Alaska League six years ago because of the lack of practices. Almost every day the team is playing a game or traveling for a game just like teams in the minor leagues.


"The structure of the pre-game BP for a high school or college coach is just critical. My first year as a coach in Alaska, I did something a bit different during games. We had four guys who were playing an infield position they didn’t play in college. I told the kids that at the end of the year we would be the best double play team in summer collegiate base-ball."

"I told our infielders we could turn up to 12 double plays during the approximate two minute warm up time our pitcher had when we ran out to play defense. After nine innings was over, that infield double play total reached approximately 85. By the time we played 50 games, we turned over 4,000 double plays during this warm up time. This is in addition to all our practices and pre-games."

Cheff was asked how in the world this system worked.

"Instead of going out between innings and letting the first base-man roll the ball out where infielders flip it back to him, which is totally non-productive, I thought it would help the infielders grow more by going to a different system.

"When we take the field on defense, we have the third base-man and shortstop take a ball with them to their positions. The third baseman takes three steps to his right with the ball in his glove and simulates a backhand play. He fires the ball to the second baseman who relays the throw to first. The first baseman keeps the ball. The shortstop, with ball in his glove, takes three steps to his right and also simulates a backhand and throws the ball to second base which is turned for a double play. The first baseman immediately turns and throws the ball back to the second baseman and keeps the other ball in his glove.

"Now the second baseman goes backhand three steps to his right with the ball in his glove and flip feeds the ball to the shortstop who turns it and fires the ball to first base. Now the first baseman comes off the bag and simulates a backhand play and fires the ball to the shortstop covering second who then fires it back to first base. The first baseman then fires the two balls he has in his glove back to the third baseman and shortstop to start the process all over again.

"With those kids in Alaska, we were shooting for 12 double plays between each inning in a little under two minutes. But we don’t just simulate the back hand. We would simulate every double play you could think of. And we would have a sequence in how we did it. The coaches would watch for proper footwork and proper throwing angle, give a good feed, etc. We incorporated all aspects of the double play between innings. I asked our players if we could incorporate this system into the game every night and still be fresh to play the game. They said yes. It worked extremely well.

"Inevitably what would happen is that in the late innings the third baseman would get a hard hit down the line. He would take three steps to backhand that ball and be forced to make a great feed to the second baseman for a double play to be turned. The third baseman just did it three minutes ago. Here he has been doing it the whole game. Look at the pivot man (second baseman or shortstop). He has been turning double plays the whole game and is ready.

"The players have two minutes between innings. Should they just stand out there or utilize the time wisely and work on double plays? I started doing that up in Alaska about six years ago out of necessity. Think about it. That is over 4,000 extra double plays over 50 games. By the time we play in a tournament, we are 4,000 double plays ahead of where another team may be in addition to all the double plays we turned in practices."

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