More often than not, this rule is completely ignored in youth league. When a pre-game conference does happen between the managers and umpires, little more than ground rules are discussed. Why? What is it about rule 4.01 that managers seem to dislike? Is it too bothersome to write out all those names on pieces of paper when field preparations take precedent? Raking and lining and warm-ups are quite often the tour of duty for these volunteer managers. Add to that the unstable conditions of their rosters which is so prevalent in youth league sports and you find a volunteer manager who always has one eye on the parking lot (praying just one more player shows up) while he performs the duties of a groundskeeper, teacher, chaperone and coach. When can he find time to write out duplicate batting orders? While I understand the plight of these caring managers, I cannot condone omitting a vital rule. Without an official batting order handed to the umpire-in-chief, the umpires never officially take over the field, the game never officially starts and the batting order is, officially, unofficial. I would urge any youth league umpire reading this to get those batting orders! Take the extra few minutes to have the teams write out the batting order for you. Take the extra minute to write down changes and substitutions, and make sure the opposing manager is informed of the changes. You’ll get scowls from the managers, but in the end you’ll find it worthwhile, for a few valid reasons.

To begin with, the managers know they are supposed to supply you with the batting order. It just "hasn’t been done for so long". So if you make the managers give you their line-ups, even though they’re not happy about it, they will have more respect for you as an official. There’ll be no doubt of your rules knowledge. And you will have shown that you can take charge of the field and enforce the rules. Additionally, what would happen in a game, with no batting orders for the umpire, if there was a batting out of order infraction? You can pretty much toss out that entire section of the rulebook. With no official batting order, how can you possible enforce the penalties? How would you know who is the "proper" batter? Abel, Baker and Charles would be very disappointed in you.

I believe that umpires are not completely innocent in all this mess. Much of the reason this rule is being ignored is because secretly a few of us officials don’t want to be handed a batting order. Not only might we find it a hassle to take care of all the changes and substitutions that are abundant in youth league, but our knowledge of the batting out of order rule may not be what it should be. We cower at the thought that we may have a large, convoluted mess to rule upon if we have a batting order in our pocket. Little do we know that the mess could be much worse for us without it. Ignorance of the rule is no excuse. I personally don’t find the batting out of order” rule to be that difficult to understand. But I know some do. The only thing I can say is read that rule until you understand it completely. You need to know it. Don’t be afraid of it. Lastly, a lot of these youth leagues have official scorers. Nowhere in the rules does it say that if a league has an official scorer, that scorer must take over any umpiring duties. The official scorer has his/her own guidelines to follow. They have their own duties to perform. Ruling on a batting out of order is not one of them. Even though it’s contrary to the rules, I have seen many official scorers make this ruling. Even in tournament play! It just shouldn’t be done. An official scorer is not an umpire. Even with one present, an umpire should still have the official batting order in his pocket and an umpire should be the one announcing changes and substitutions to the official scorer.