Yeah, pretty much. When it's what we call cold here, the wind is usually blowing hard out the north or northwest, and the humidity is higher. We get a wet cold most the time. With global warming, winter is almost a thing of the past here.

I wear shorts most the year, and very seldom a jacket. Mostly a long sleeve t-shirt with some pants, usually just a pair of workout pullovers. I'm not out in it as often as I used to be. The only time I need to dress warm is if I'll be out in the colder weather for an extended time, or the wind is blowing.

We very seldom get down under 40% humidity in our cold season. In the bottoms, the air is cooler at night depending on the time of year. In the Red River Valley which is close to the Texas/Oklahoma state line. You can go to bed at 10:00 PM with a window open and no cover. About 2:00 AM, you will wake up shivering, and need a sheet and a blanket. We get about six months of summer. Throw in a summer of drought, and it's even hotter.

Humidity is a b*tch. I was out in Phoenix at the end of October with temps in the low 90's, and I didn't break into the same type sweat if it was the low 90's here. In fact, I probably over-hydrated. We finished playing ball on a Saturday night, and started driving back about noon Sunday (MST in Arizona as they don't use DST there). I had to stop to pee at about every truck stop from Phoenix to the New Mexico state line.

The issue you raised was dangerous. I challenged that part of your post. A 90 degeree bat is a 90 degree bat - doesn't matter how it got to 90 degrees. If it's safe at 90 ambient it's safe artificially warmed to 90.

The "no" referred to the idea that colder air is thinner. Where you are, it makes no difference.

Yes Rich, it does matter. Artificially heating a bat will cause it to react differently than it normally would. THAT is why it is illegal. Artificially heating a bat creates an unfair advantage when it is cold. It is akin to scuffing a ball - it changes the dynamics of what is expected.

Another member wrote that it will make the bat expand and become more brittle. That may be the case and if so is another reason why artificially heating a bat when it is cold outside is a problem. Composite bats tend to break at the handle, not the barrel, during cold weather. You don't create a safer bat by heating the barrel.

When we warmed up bats in our dugout, on cold nights, we no longer cracked or dented them. We used either an electric blanket, or I had the guys sit on the barrels, or put them under their arm pits.

Take that for whatever it's worth.

A2D I guess.


BTW - cold makes it more brittle, not heat.

I have a couple of governing agencies with rules supporting my opinion - artificially warming bats creates an unfair advantage.

Taking a cold bat and heating it artificially weakens the bonds in the composite material. Heating the barrel leaves the handle vulnerable. Bat manufacturers and the aformentioned agencies cite this as a hazard.

I find it funny that so many on this forum consider coaches to be 'rats' for seeking any advantage they can, yet consider bat warming to be tolerable. No Rich, I wasn't referring to you, my friend. A2D. Enjoy the time left before we hit the fields again.

I'm just talking about getting a bat up to it's proper operating temperature, when it's below 40 degrees outside.

I'm not saying whether or not it's legal or should be acceptable - just that it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever that a bat at 90 Degrees F "knows" whether it got there artifically or naturally and thus responds differently.

BTW - some bats used to (maybe still do) say the warranty is invalid if used below certain temps. That would seem to me to suggest there is a concern over using cold bats.