Quote:
Originally Posted by mbyron
Just curious: which provision of the bat rule does a rattle violate?
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I'm the OPer, and that is actually something I'm questioning myself on. The only thing that I could find that may be used is part of 1-3-5:
No foreign substance may be inserted into the bat.
I know that rule was put in place to prevent corking wooden bats and adding rubber balls to old aluminum bats. I'm sure the rattling culprit was not placed there intentionally, but I don't see intent as part of the rule.
Enough discussion on this thread to post my post-game follow up: After the game "Dad" caught me in the parking lot and politely asked about my ruling. After explaining what I told the coach, he told me that what they discovered (whoever "they" are) was that a screw had come loose inside the handle. That screw had something to do with keeping the bat from vibrating when hitting the ball. I told him that sounded like it could be a weakness in the bat since a screw is obviously meant to hold something together, and now it is no longer doing so.