Doctored Bats

[NCASAUmp]

I mentioned that I would bring this up in another thread, so here goes...

In one of the local leagues, we have a player who reportedly is getting his bats doctored. He'll buy a bat that's on the banned list for having too much "pop" (probably a Freak Plus), send it off to a bat doctor to have it stripped down and painted to look like a Freak 98, then use it in recreational games. One of our umpires knows the UPS driver who delivers to this player's private business (unrelated to softball), and the driver has told our umpire that this guy receives a shipment of about 10 bats early in the spring, ships them back out to somewhere else the next day. Then, a week or two later, the bats come back. During the games, when he hits one out, the batter on deck knows to grab his bat and put it in the dugout right away.

Believe me when I tell you that whoever is doctoring these bats is GOOD. Our own state UIC has looked at them (he's in the area), and not even he can tell if they're fake.

The question becomes: in a local league, what, if anything, can be done about this? He's playing in local co-ed recreational games, and many of the opposing players are very inexperienced. It's only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt, or even worse. Supposedly, these are Freak 98s, but all of us know better.

It has been stated by another forum member that bat manufacturers do not use primer on their bats, so no primer should be found if the bats' paint is cracking/peeling. Are there any other suggestions for spotting these doctored bats?

I'm glad to see ASA is taking a stand against this. They've already won one lawsuit (and smartly, at that!), and I'm sure more will follow.