I'm calling a men's SP game last night. Bottom of 7 and the visitors (everyone's swinging the Miken) are beating the home team (their Miken broke over the weekend) by 18 runs. The visitors decide that things would have been different if they had their Miken and take it upon themselves to grab the Miken off of the visitors bench. The catcher notices this and nicely asks them to put it back. The batter states that the rules say that you can use the other teams bats. I tell him that my rule book doesn't have that rule and that he should use his own bat and get in the box so that I can get home before midnight. He puts up a minor stink but I eventually find 3 outs and get home in time for Sportscenter.
I thought I've done a thorough job of reading the rules but I may have missed this one. Or possibly it's a matter of interpreting a statement in the rule book. I've been playing SP for over 20 years and umping for about 10 and I have heard other players over the years make the comment about how you can use the other team's bats. If it is legal then I guess I spent way too much on bats over the years when I could have just been using the other team's. Can anyone cite a rule (ASA) that allows this? If not, does anyone have any history on this issue (legal in other associations, used to be legal in ASA, etc.)?
Thanks,
Tim
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