NOCSAE stamp on batting helmet face protector

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by teebob21

I check for these in this order:

• NOCSAE stamp on helmet
• No cracks in helmet (esp. near bill)
• Pads sorta intact inside
• No missing/loose screws on face mask
• Facemask NOCSAE cert (sometimes printed up and under the top bar; tough to see under the brim of the hat)

I hate being the bats 'n' hats police as much as anyone, but if they say we gotta do it...then we got's to do it.

MTD, Jr. and I umpire both H.S. baseball and fast pitch softball, as well as ASA and USSSA fast pitch, and Junior starts umpiring women's college fast pitch this Spring.

That said, we could have not been more happy when the NFHS dropped the requirement that the umpires had to check bats and helmets before the game.

I remember the first year that the NFHS and NCAA baseball rules went to the BESR for its bats. The very first game of the season I found two brand new bats (bought by the school) which were identical except for one small detail: one had a BESR stencil on it and the other bat did not have a BESR stencil, meaning one bat was legal and other bat was not legal.

Things did not get any better when the NFHS and NCAA went to BBCOR bats. Every Sunday night I would print out a list BBCOR bats (a couple hundred bats) from the Univ. of Washington (I think that was the college), that we would have to compare against each team's bats. That was insane.

Earlier this month, Mark, Jr., and I spent one week in Florida umpiring Spring Break college softball and it was insane. Taking the list of bats that each team gave us and check the highlighted bats on the list for the serial number on each bat. One team had 31, you read that correctly, 31 bats and only had 15 girls on the team. Another team had 21 bats, including 6 bats of one model and 4 bats of another model. The serial numbers were of extremely small font and never in the same place on any given bat.

Every male coach that I spoke with in Florida wished that the NCAA would go the route of NFHS and NCAA baseball: The umpires do not need to check the bats, but the coaches should be required to affirm that their equipment is legal and if illegal equipment is discovered then they will suffer the consequences. On the flip side every female coach wanted the bats to be checked by the umpires because, wait for it: Coaches will cheat if the bats are not checked!

It is insane I tell you.

MTD, Sr.