Batter throwing the bat

[chapmaja]

Originally Posted by MD Longhorn

This is not correct... what you're calling "careless discarded by the batter" is EXACTLY what is meant by "a bat that slips from a players hands".

ASA is very clear that this is not a penalizable event.

Also ... if you trot out 10-1 in your career more than once, you're almost definitely overusing it. That is meant for the truly unforseeable event - not for something we see in any 10U league multiple times a year. Any event that you've ever seen in your games more than a time or two is forseeable. ASA is not so blind to the actualities of a game to have not thought to cover a batter throwing a bat as in the OP... if they wanted that penalized, there would be a penalty.

(PS - I've said this before... my singular 10-1 moment in 21 years (this includes never using rule 9 in baseball - same rule) was a truck that was put into gear and rolled over my right field fence (driverless!) while play was live - the truck eventually rolled into fair ball territory before getting stopped. It scared the crap out of both teams - we killed play and placed runners where we thought they should go.)

Actually, under the a legal definition, 10-1 applies to ANYTHING, which is not specifically covered in the rule book. In this case, a carelessly discarded bat is not the same as a bat that slips from the hands.

You may thing the rules are as clear as day, but when you have a lawyer umpiring (as we do in our league), you will find the little ifs and butts that are not as legally clear as the rules seem to be. This is one of these cases.

He is actually the one who suggested that 10-1 could apply if an umpire deems the act not accidental (slipping from the hands), but careless.

Also, you are wrong in another regard. The ASA book does not, in any way, shape or form, say that a carelessly discarded bat is not penalizable, as you state. It just does not specify a penalty for the act of a carelessly discarded bat. There is a big difference, and when discussing it with a lawyer, those little differences come out.