Quote:
Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA
If they are specific to the statement, local umpires not assigned to work the tournament aren't part of the umpire staff.
I suspect that the TD/ASA Rep didn't want to be placed in the position of being the "bad guy" of rejecting a bat, so it gets dumped on the umpire. However, I often ran into non-approved bats in the dugout simply because those testing the bats did just that, and only that. This way the bat can be inspected ahead of time and make the pre-game that much easier.
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Pre-Tournament bat testing is now mandatory at all National Tournaments, both FP and SP. The reason given for this proposal is that the umpires are the experts in this area. While I agree with this, I don't think it should fall on the umpires assigned to the tournament. I don't think it should be a big issue to get some local umpires to participate. I was a Tournament UIC a few years ago where all they did was the compression test and slapped the sticker on the bat.