For the first time since I was in college, I've begun umpiring again and I'm really enjoying it---for the most part.

I grew up in St. Louis (which many of you know) and loving baseball is just in your blood. I played high school baseball and legion ball in the summer. Heck, I watch games TV and strategize with the coaches.

But since I've begun umping around the Sioux Empire this summer, I'm beginning to wonder what's happened to our national pastime. Every park has it's own set of rules. And no I'm not talking about ground rules of what's in play and what's out of play. I'm referring to this park has exceptions to the rules, this park does it this and this park does it that way.

Each division has it's own set of rules, which makes sense to the development of the players. The older you get, the closer you should be playing to the rules of baseball. Some leagues have the EH (extra hitter) slash flex player (a way to get one more kid a chance to bat) while some allow a warning on a balk before extra bases are allowed.

I have no problem with teaching kids the rules of the game, but when they hit 14-15 years old, they should know the rules. By allowing exceptions, what are we teaching them?

When I played, nine guys hit, nine guys played. We didn't add extra rules to get everyone into the game. Plus, by allowing all these exceptions, what happened to the strategy of the game? It's taken right out the door.

As an umpire, with all these exceptions, I've found myself not being 100% confident anymore. Now as I take calls to ump places, I ask what age group I'm umping and what not. Again, I'm all about teaching kids the game I love so much, but making rules/exceptions isn't really teaching them anything.

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