Those awful local league rules

I was coaching a team in a regional tournament using National League rules. There are not supposed to be local rules applies, but they told us before the game that players couldn't leave the dugout without getting permission from the umpires.

We were in the late innings in a good game. The umpires were both on the field and concentrating on a tight game. One of my players on the bench had to go to the bathroom. He needed to go right away. I told him to go ahead. I didn't want to stop the game to get permission for a sub to rush off the bench.

One of the umpires saw him running to the bathroom and called time out. He came over to our bench and said the player was ejected from the game. I asked him to show me the National League rule that players couldn't go to the bathroom. He said it was a local league rule, and that the player was out of the game.

We argued about it for awhile, but decided it wasn't worth it since the player wasn't playing at the time anyhow. But, I just got to thinking what would happen if it were a player in the game.

We've called that rule the Columbia City Pee rule since then - in recognition of the city in which we were playing.

Goes to show you that if you host a tournament, don't get caught up in local league rules that will bring your city that type of recognition.