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Originally Posted by Dakota
We have two shorter lists available to us: 1) The banned bats with the 2004 stamp list, and 2) The no-longer grandfathered bats list.
My way of handling this is:
1) No stamp of any kind - out (with the exception of some old bats I recognize - occastionally still used as a "team" bat, such as the old burgandy Lousiville TPS)
2) 2004 stamp and one of the 6 - out
3) 2000 stamp and one of the grandfathered bats - out
4) otherwise, in
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And I agree with that, but there's one problem - consistency. That's my biggest problem with 3-1-A-3. Some umpires say, "no stamp, no good." Others use their discretion on a bat-by-bat basis. This gets us into trouble when we hear, "but I was able to play with it last night. Why not tonight?" While "umpire's discretion" is the correct answer, it's not a very convincing one.
We're not bat experts or metallurgists (well, maybe some of us, but not all). We can't tell if the bat "would have passed" the 2004 test, nor should we be expected to pass/fail a bat just by guessing as to whether it would've passed today's standards.
I say get rid of 3-1-A-3. Require the 2000 and/or 2004 stamps and be done with it. Let's get this list down to something manageable.