white bats
 

under NF rules, are bats that are all white legal? I have heard umpires say both yes and no. But, I can not find a rule in the book saying they are illegal.

Thanks for the help:)

The color of a bat does not pertain to its legality.

Under the current rule, all wood bats are legal. All aluminum bats meeting the BESR or BBCOR standards are legal. And composite bats are legal if they are BBCOR or they've been "tested" legal (NFHS | Approved BESR-ABI Composite Baseball Bats (as of March 10, 2011)).

Without my book, I would say just about every physical characterisic of a bat has a regulation on it, except color.

An umpire that tells you that should be smacked with one....just to get his attention....then made to read the rule book.

MrUmpire,

Maybe the umpire was thinking of the OBR rule.

JM

What OBR rule?

Rich,

1.10(d).

JM

It doesn't ban white bats. It just says colored bats have to be approved by the rules committee - like all the colored bats you see in use.

Would you ban a black or brown bat, or assume it's approved? How about a blue bat with orange lettering? Maybe a green and gold bat? Isee a lot of colored bats in MLB. Never seen the approved list though - have you?

OBR 1.10 also says bats have to be wood.

The latest illegal bat list by the Sports Science Laboratory, School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Washington State University, was dated Thursday, April 07, 2011, at 10:11amPDT. The list contained over 216 bats.

MTD, Sr.

The list I posted was of approved bats.

They have both lists.

MLB: I think if you take the Louisville Slugger tour, they tell you the "approved color" list.

I'm sure I've seen it somewhere. Since I dont' do MLB, I don't much care. Most of the "off color" bats are composite handles with wood barrels.

There's a list of approved colors in my PBUC manual.

And what does it say about white?

Doesn't Little League have a rule against white bats? I've never worked that sanction, but seem to remember reading that somewhere.

Please show us the exact rule (not a LL rule) that prevents the use of a white bat.

1.10 says something to the effect of "no colored bats may be used without the approval of the rules committee."

My very old NAPBL manual says the colors were "natural, black and wood stain."

My newer-but-still-old MLBUM says there's an "annual bat bulletin" -- I think this covers the colors and manufacturers. They didn't send it to me. ;)

You know what it says? "Stop reading and umpire."

Did for one year. No longer have it.

We have a winner...
 

My nominee for Post of the Thread.

LL banned them once in the late 80's early 90's, and then again a couple of years ago. The bans only lasted a year.

They now state that they won't license a white bat (allow makers to put the LL logo on them for a fee), yet there are several that are. To say the least, it's been very confusing with the new approved composite list, that excludes one white bat, even though it's legal to use.

According to the February 2011 NCAA Coordinator Conference call, this issue was addressed. White bats, specifically Nike's offerings, have been considered a problem by some but are ruled legal at this time. Given the tendency to err on the side of safety, it would seem apparent that next year the NCAA will 'encourage' manufacturers to put enough color on the barrel to make them less of an issue. Fed tends to follow saftey guidelines from the NCAA so they may take this up over the summer.