How far is "too far?"

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by NCASAUmp

I agree the end caps shouldn't come off, but they do. Just about every used Mizuno I've laid my hands on seems to have some amount of separation of the end cap from the barrel, and I have no reason to suspect whatsoever that these particular players are working the caps off.

I've always felt that once the cap comes off, the bat is done unless the repairs are done by the manufacturer only. But if some umpires allow players to knock the rivets back into place, how would that be consistent with prohibiting players from glueing their end caps back into place?

Or would this be a topic better left off the public radar?

Cite 3.1.G. This rule is clear that if the manufacturer is not the one who removed the cap, the cap was not properly affixed which, since the manufacturer has agreed through certification that a cap cannot come off, would default to the point that someone other than the manufacturer removed or caused the cap to come off. That, by rule, DQs the bat and clearly suggests there has been an attempt to alter the bat.

If the player has a problem, it is with the manufacturer, or the person who screwed with their bat, not the sanctioning body with whose rules to which the manufacturer agreed to abide.

How about that for some serious, yet effective and factual, rhetoric?