ASA Bat Lists

[NCASAUmp]

Originally Posted by Dakota

No argument, but that position seems to necessitate umpires being familiar with a list of 95 (and growing), non-approved bats, thereby rendering the entire process unenforceable by anyone without eidetic memory. There is a large market for "banned in OKC" bats, and that market is not going away. IMO, ASA needs to move to plan B.

And it also requires umpires to have built up a personal history of softball bats that have "been around" since before ASA started testing. Sure, most of us can recognize a bat from the 1980s, but what about bats from '98 or '99?

I've been in softball long enough to know most of the old bats (and I certainly miss my trusty Bombat - 33", 34 oz.!), even the triangular ones (god, remember those?). But a younger blue may not be able to tell the difference between a bat from '98 and a bat that the manufacturer never intended to get approved by ASA. At that point, it's not only a consistency issue, but the precise safety issue that was raised earlier.