Welcome to Blue Crew Diaries, an umpire podcast.
My name is Daryl and I will be your host as we
take a look behind the mask, so to speak, sharing
stories, insights, and experiences from the unique
perspective of the baseball umpire. In this episode...
We're going to kick off the 2026 season with
the significant updates to the Little League
rulebook. As always, if you have any questions,
comments, or ideas for future episodes, drop
me a line at bluecrewdiaries at gmail .com. So
if you're ready, grab your indicator and plate
brush, and let's hit the field. All right, everybody,
welcome to the third season inaugural episode
of Blue Crew Diaries and Umpire podcast. If you
are here for the first time, simply welcome.
If you are returning, welcome back. Glad to have
you here. Ah, yeah, I took a couple of months
off. Not really a whole lot in the world of.
Little League baseball going on as far as from
an umpiring standpoint. So I just took a couple
of months off. I did just to kind of bring you
up to speed on some current events. I did run
back in November for my local Little League board
of directors. I unfortunately was not successful
in getting on the board. But that's a topic for
another episode. In this episode, as you heard
in the intro, we're going to be going over the
significant updates to the 2026 Little League
rulebook, specifically the updates that pertain
to us umpires. If you want to read all of the
significant updates, they are right on the Little
League website at littleleague .org. But before
we get into that, we have some announcements.
So let's get to them. All right, starting off
the announcements with, if you have not already,
be sure to sign up for the Little League Umpire
Registry. That is littleleagueumpire .org. A
lot of good stuff on there. Not to mention, you
can complete. your little league volunteer application
and background check on the little league umpire
.org website once you are signed up for the registry
signing up for the registry is completely free
in the background check or submitting the background
check request is i believe it's five dollars
not really too big of a deal but what that gets
you is it gets you your background check complete
and your volunteer application complete for any
league. So that means if you plan on working
multiple leagues in your area, you only have
to fill out the application and go through the
background check one time versus having to do
those for every single league that you umpire.
Definitely can save you a lot of time. Trust
me. And a lot of headache. Also, if you're planning
on attending any of the in -person training opportunities
that Little League offers, you will need to do
this on the umpire registry. Simply filling out
the volunteer application and going through the
background check will not cut it. You need to
do it on the registry. Also, on the registry
is where you would sign up for all of those actual
Little League, you know, proper Little League
organization trainings. All that is on the LittleLeagueEmpire
.org website. Also on the website, a lot of educational
tools. You can submit your tournament application
if you are interested in working at tournament.
There's some... links you can buy some basic
umpire gear, shirts, base running flags, ball
bags, indicators, all that kind of stuff. And
you can also select what leagues you want your
information to be in front of. So when these
local leagues are looking for umpires, they can
go on littleleague .org or whatever data center
that they use. And they can see your information
and then they can reach out to you and say, hey,
would you like to umpire for us? So speaking
of upcoming trainings, I am not going to go through
them all, but there are a bunch of upcoming trainings
and clinics on the Little League Umpire Registry.
Two biggest ones, if you are in and around the
area of Maine, like I am, March 28th, 2026, Brewer
Little League in Brewer, Maine, will be hosting
a Little League Outreach Clinic. That's going
to be held at the Brewer High School. Again,
that's March 28th, starting at 9 a .m. Plans
to be a whole day. Only cost you 30 bucks. I've
already signed up for it. I would highly suggest
that you do so as well. And that link can be
found on the umpire registry. Looks like, yeah,
a week or so after that is a umpire academy.
This one is a little different. Normally, they're,
you know, the umpire academies on this side of
the country. at least in the Northeast, are held
in Bristol, Connecticut at East Region Headquarters.
This one, April 8th through the 12th in Dover,
New Hampshire at the high school there. That
one is obviously a few days. It's more of an
umpire academy than just a simple clinic. Cost
for that one is $200. And I believe... Lunch
will be provided, but you will have to provide
your own accommodations, unless obviously you
live down that way. So again, littleleagueempire
.org. Be sure to sign up for those if you are
interested or any of the trainings or clinic
opportunities on there. They've got everything
from two umpire system clinics to umpire academies
to four umpire system clinics. And a little bit
of everything in between. So that is pretty much
it for announcements. So let's get into our main
topic. All right. And again, today's main topic
is the 2026 significant rulebook updates. These
just dropped last week officially. downloaded
the Little League umpire or the Little League
rulebook app on either your phone or your tablet,
what have you. Be sure to do that. All the rules
have been updated, including the significant
updates. So like I said in the intro, we're just
going to touch on the significant updates that
we are directly going to deal with. as umpires
some of the like mandatory play stuff and things
like that really don't we don't normally deal
with that that's kind of an admin thing that's
out of our purview so to speak so we're just
going to be going over the stuff that we are
going to deal with uh starting off with one of
the biggest ones of this year in my opinion is
the use of pine tar or any other similar adhesive
substance is now permitted at all levels of baseball
and softball. That is huge. Before, you could
not use pine tar at all. you were done you could
not use it now there are some caveats to this
you cannot just lather the bat up with vine tar
and call it good um it's just no so looking at
the new rulebook rule 1 .10 uh note two Of course,
there's a couple of Note 2s under that particular
rule, but it's the one that's all in red and
underlined. That states, the use of pine tar
or any other similar adhesive substance may be
applied to the handle or grip of the bat at all
levels of Blue League Baseball. Pine tar or any
other foreign substance shall not be added to
the surface of the barrel or taper of the bat.
And shall not cover the USA Baseball logo. Or
the BB Corps logo for Intermediate, Junior, and
Senior Division. Or other key identifying information
or logos on the bat. So it can only be on the
handle. It cannot be on the barrel. It cannot
be on the taper. And it cannot cover the bat
logo. the USA Baseball logo for those of us in
majors and down. Penalty for this is if the bat
has pine tar or a foreign substance on the barrel
or taper or covers key identifying information
on the bat, the bat must be removed from the
game and the player shall be warned. Now, if
the player repeats the infraction, that player
and their manager are at that point ejected.
So they get a warning first. It's not an automatic
ejection. You give the player a warning. I may
also say something to the coach. Hey, this player
is being warned for using a bat that has pine
tar where it's not supposed to be. That way everybody
knows what's going on. If they do it again, Now
they're tossed. Now, in such cases, all results
from the use of such bat will stand. And the
infraction is not cause for calling the batter
out, nor shall the bat be declared illegal. So
basically what they're saying there is, if, say,
the player hits a home run with a bat that has
pine tar on the barrel. And this is discovered
after the home run is hit and everybody rounds
the paces legally. That home run stands. All
the runs that cross the plate will score. And
nobody is declared out just because that bat
is not proper. The bat's taken out of the game.
The player is warned. That's it. So let's get
into rule 1 .10 AR2. This significant update
updates the wording To permit the use of thumb
protectors. So thumb protectors are now allowed
on the bat. Or on the player. And clarifies that
paradox such as but not limited to choke knobs
or choke up assists are still not permitted.
Now notice I said. Not permitted. Not illegal.
Just not permitted. So, this is directly from
the rulebook. AR2. No bat in any level of Little
League Baseball or Softball is permitted to be
altered. Products such as, but not limited to,
choke knobs or choke assist are not permitted.
Penalty. If a bat has such a product, the product
must be removed from the bat, and the bat shall
not Be declared illegal. So if there's a choke
-up knob or a choke -up assist on the bat, hey,
you got to take that off. That's it. They take
it off, they can use the bat. No problem there.
Player shall be warned, obviously. And if they
repeat the infraction, then that... particular
offending player and the manager are ejected.
In such cases, all results from the use of a
bat will stand, same as with the pine tar, and
this infraction is not caused for calling the
batter out, nor shall the bat be declared illegal.
So, once again, we have a situation where there
is a warning, and the Assist or whatever it is
that's on the bat that's not proper or not allowed
needs to be taken off the bat. Player is warned.
If they come out with something on their bat
again that's not allowed, now they are ejected
along with their manager. But the result of anything
that occurs with that on the bat will stand.
We as umpires would see that before they even
step into the batter's box and go, hey, you got
to take that off. I've seen stranger things happen,
but hopefully we would catch that. That brings
us to a couple of different rules here. Rule
3 .04, 7 .14 Bravo and T3 Delta. regarding the
courtesy runner. This clarifies the placement
of runners when a team courtesy runs for the
pitcher and or catcher of record with two outs
at the same time. Now, if I was a little more
prepared, I would have this up already. Let's
see here. 3 .034. There we go. So, note three.
If the pitcher and catcher of record are on base
with two outs, the offense may use a courtesy
runner for both the pitcher and catcher of record
at the same time. This only makes sense, right?
If they're both on base with two out, you want
to get them back to the dugout so the pitcher
can get ready, the catcher can get their gear
on. And we can continue with the game without
having to wait for everybody. When assigning
courtesy runners in such situations, the player
who is scheduled to bat soonest shall be placed
on the base closest to scoring. For example,
with two outs, the pitcher is on second, catcher
is on third base. The offense elects to use courtesy
runners for both the pitcher and catcher. The
player who made the second out of the inning
becomes the courtesy runner for the pitcher at
second base. The player who made the first out
of the inning, who is due up soonest, becomes
the courtesy runner for the catcher at third.
Fairly simple. Not really much to that. Rule
3 .17 regarding a malfunctioning one -way communication
device. Now, if you remember from last year's
significant updates, 2025 season, Little League
now allows a one -way communication device from
the dugout to the catcher. I honestly didn't
see any teams in my local leagues using this.
I don't know if there was one being used. If
there was, I didn't see it. This update adds
a second note to that rule. Again, rule 3 .17.
And that note states, a reasonable amount of
time must be provided to a team to correct a
malfunctioning one -way communication device.
You as the umpire. are responsible for determining
how long that reasonable amount of time is. Whatever
is reasonable to you. So, let's see here. Now
we go into Rule 4 .04, Note 2. If a player...
is unable to complete a plate appearance due
to injury, illness, or rejection, the next batter
in the lineup shall take their place at the plate
and assume the count of the original batter.
If a batter becomes a runner by reaching base
safely and then is unable to run the bases due
to injury, illness, or rejection, they shall
be replaced by the player who recorded the last
out, or with a courtesy runner, if applicable.
So, if they're in the middle of their plate appearance,
and they get injured, or they're just unable
to complete the at -bat for whatever reason,
they get sick, or, heaven forbid, they get ejected,
the next batter comes into the plate and assumes
their count. If they are on the bases and they
become injured, ill, or they get ejected, then
the player who is scheduled to bat or who recorded
the last out takes their place. Or you could
throw a courtesy runner up there if they were
the pitcher or catcher of record at the time.
Rule 4 .18. Regarding forfeited games, that's
kind of an easy one. It removes the requirement
for the scorebook to be signed by the umpire
-in -chief for a forfeited game. Not really a
big deal there. You really don't see too awful
many forfeits in Little League, so really nothing
we have to worry about. Rule 6 .06 Delta reworded
to provide consistency with Tournament Rule 3
Bravo. Rule 7 .15 Golf. This has to do with the
procedures for use of a double first base. And
essentially what this now says is that In the
event of an uncaught third strike, again, uncaught
third strike, not a drop third, like everybody
loves to call it, is an uncaught third strike.
In the event of an uncaught third strike, the
fielder and the runner, the fielder being the
first baseman, they can use whatever. side of
the base they want. Okay. That is very significant.
So, direct from the rulebook. In majors, intermediate,
junior, and senior league divisions, notice this
does not apply to minors. When the batter becomes
a runner on a third strike not caught by the
catcher, the batter -runner and the defensive
player may use either the colored or the white
base. Note, when the batter becomes a runner
on a third strike not caught by the catcher,
the batter runner may run in fair territory when
the throw is coming from the foul side of the
base. And if hit by the throw, it is not interference.
So this kind of throws the runner's lane a little
bit out of the window. If the runner sees the
first baseman set up on the foul side of the
base, they can be pretty sure the throw is going
to be coming from the foul side, from their right.
They can cross over that line into fair territory
to run to the white part of the base. That is
now allowed only on an uncaught third strike.
And if they get hit by the throw, well, it's
not interference. However, if intentional, one
very key word here, if intentional interference
is ruled, the runner is out. So if the runner
had no idea, that the throw was coming from the
foul side and they stayed on the foul side, they
get hit in the back with the ball. Eh, you really
can't call that interference because it wasn't
really intentional by this ruling. But if they
look back, they see that the ball is going to
be coming from the foul side. or they see the
throw is going to be coming from the fair side,
and they intentionally step over to block that
throw, that is intentional. That runner is going
to be called out. So that's going to do it as
far as the 2026 significant updates are concerned.
One thing I forgot to put in the announcements
is please be sure to... complete the Little League
Abuse Awareness Training for the 2026 season.
That does need to be done every single year,
so make sure you get on that. And if you plan
on attending any of the trainings or clinics
that Little League International puts on throughout
the season, you will need to have that done.
Also, again, you will need to be a member of
the Umpire Registry. And when you complete the
abuse awareness training, it would probably be
a good idea to print out your certificate of
completion as they may ask for it at the training.
Always a good thing to have in case you do end
up needing it. So that's going to do it from
here. Again, if you have any questions, comments,
ideas for future episodes, send me an email.
at bluecrewdiaries at gmail .com. Also be sure
to hit the subscribe or follow button on your
podcast player. That way you are alerted every
time a new episode drops. I'm going to try to
get back into the monthly routine as we get geared
up for the season. So that's going to do it from
here. Thank you all very much for listening and
I will see you on the diamond.