Quote:
Originally posted by ChampaignBlue
All mike is saying is that all balls need to go through the umpire, the pitcher can ask for a new ball and that the umpire can determine that a ball needs to be retired. Most umpires will get rid of a dead ball once they hear it. If it's left up to the offense to decide I'm with Mike in that they will try to get the "juiced ball" into the game far too often and there is a serious liability issue for the umpire with the bats out there and a criminal (as in manslaughter) issue for the person that offered the juiced ball. If you guys had showed restraint and not paid $300 for a bat we wouldn't have this issue at all, but there's no putting that genie back into the bottle. Jim
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"Juiced"? All I am asking for is to use APPROVED, OFFICIAL, CHECKED BY THE UMPIRE, Softballs that are not worn out. This has nothing to do with the bats. I just figure that since we pay to get in the park, pay for the leagues, pay for our gloves, uniforms, $4.00 beers and NOW Pay for the balls, we should AT LEAST not be forced to hit a ball that is worn out after 6 innings OR worse, some duct tape ball thats been laying in the park managers office for two seasons and seen 26 games!!
How does one Juice a softball anyway? Our leagues use Worth .44 cor, 375 compression balls. When one is hit out of play and doesnt come back, we throw in a a REPLACEMENT WORTH .44, 375.
Why do I sense such animosity towards the player over this bat thing? There is plenty of blame to go around here. Manufacturers, the associations, the parks and the players all share some guilt in the problem. The good news is that it's slowly but surely being addressed.
Here's a question....Does every problem we discuss here always have to revert to bats?
PLAYER: "That strike was kinda deep ump!"
UMP: "So, You have a $300 bat and it's only traveling 5 mph"
PLAYER: "Ump, he was safe"
UMP: "He used a $300 bat, he's out"
PLAYER: "Blue that ball went out of play, we'd like to change it out"
Ump: No, you spent $300 on that bat"