NSA Ruling?

[David Emerling]

Originally Posted by Bandit

Is it illegal to heat a bat in NSA softball? And if so where in the 2008 rule book are you findng the ruling?

Reading the NSA rule provided by another poster, it doesn't seem a heated bat fits any of the described categories as far as alteration is concerned.

If you think about it, how is a heated bat "altered"? Are we talking about its molecular structure and the excitation of the electrons?

Then we have to ask the question, how much heat is too much? 65-degrees? 80-degrees? 120-degrees?

How was the bat heated? Was it just kept warm by being covered with blankets so as to prevent the metal from being cold-soaked on a particularly frigid day?

Was it placed briefly in front of a dugout heating device?

Or was it placed inside a heating blanket that is specifically designed to heat bats and that are openly sold by sporting goods vendors?

http://www.batwarmer.com/

Are players required to leave their bats exposed to ambient temperature conditions to be legal?

Is placing the bat inside a bat bag considered "heating" the bat?

What if the team employs a heating system for the players and the bat rack is right next to the heating element, causing the bats not to get cold-soaked?

What if they use the Pyroflite bat heater, as advertised in the link above? Couldn't they say, "I didn't heat the bat ... I heated the bat bag"? Would heating the bat bag be illegal?

After all, some of these super-light, thin-walled bats are specifically designed NOT to be used in cold weather conditions since it makes the metal brittle and more susceptible to breaking; which, in itself could be a hazard to the players. Under these conditions, an argument could be made that either:

1) No bat can be used if the temperature at game time is below the manufacturer's recommendation for safe use of the bat. And, by the way, that temperature is about 60-65 degrees. What are we going to do - cancel the game? Or, play the game knowing full well we are using bats that are being "operated" beyond the manufacturer's specifications? Who is liable should a player be injured by a shattered bat?

2) or, allow (No -require!) the participants to heat their bats in order to make them safer and bring them within manufacturer specifications?

Truly, a conundrum.

David Emerling
Memphis, TN