LL pre-game equipment inspection questions

[SeeingEyeDog]

Greetings brothers,

     At a district 12U all-star game this morning, I found an illegal bat presented for pre-game inspection. Non-wood bat with no "USA Baseball" stamp. I brought it to the coach's attention and didn't see it for the remainder of the day. 2 questions...

1) How does this happen? I know the leagues send out emails and conduct mandatory pre-tournament meetings and we all absorb and apply information differently but, when you've been bombarded about legal/illegal equipment, how does a non-conforming piece of equipment get presented for inspection? Travel kid playing under different bat rules with travel ball and "just forgot"?

2) Why are pre-equipment checks put on the umpires? Why not put this on the district reps/game administrators?

~Dawg

[Velho]

12 minutes ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

1) How does this happen? I know the leagues send out emails and conduct mandatory pre-tournament meetings and we all absorb and apply information differently but, when you've been bombarded about legal/illegal equipment, how does a non-conforming piece of equipment get presented for inspection? Travel kid playing under different bat rules with travel ball and "just forgot"?

That's the argument. Kids play both travel and LL at the same time (smh). When you ask who's it is and tell the coach to remove it from the dugout you can get a read on the excuse being genuine or not.

I'm also seeing pine tar which is explicitly prohibited by LL.

13 minutes ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

2) Why are pre-equipment checks put on the umpires? Why not put this on the district reps/game administrators?

I'm doing two different districts this year. One has it on the umps (same as regular season) and the other has it on the TDs. (I have doubts the TDs know what they are looking for but it takes it off of us). Wish I had known that ahead of time so I wasn't standing one the field so long pregame, but oh well.

[SeeingEyeDog]

Thanks, @Velho...yeah, I didn't try to do any detective work/psychological analysis. I just said, "Coach, you have an illegal bat here. This is a non-wood bat with no USA Baseball stamp. Please remove it from play." and he said, "Ok..." and that was the end of it.

For what it's worth, I think LL has dialed the bats back too much. Which for umpires is a good thing as dead bats mean more defensive opportunities. Before the big bat adjustment in 2018 was it?...the number of HRs hit at Williamsport was simply too much and did not make for good baseball. I'm sure someone has the statistics on the Internet somewhere but, to my naked eye...pre-2018 the bats were too lively, now they are far too dead...again, just my opinion, obviously since this is LL safety is on everyone's mind.

~Dawg 

[Velho]

1 hour ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

For what it's worth, I think LL has dialed the bats back too much. Which for umpires is a good thing as dead bats mean more defensive opportunities. Before the big bat adjustment in 2018 was it?...the number of HRs hit at Williamsport was simply too much and did not make for good baseball. I'm sure someone has the statistics on the Internet somewhere but, to my naked eye...pre-2018 the bats were too lively, now they are far too dead...again, just my opinion, obviously since this is LL safety is on everyone's mind.

The pre-USA bats were dangerous. Period. As a dad of a pitcher and umpire at the time they scared the crap out of me base (though I was more worried in travel, which still uses them and in the larger barrel size). I saw one in particular that i'm still under how the pitcher didn't break a rib.

From what I've seen, the USA bats are much more lively than when they first came out (similar to the BBCOR evolution). Not as bouncy as the 2 1/4" 1.15bpf but they are getting there ,epagcilyl since they allow the larger 2 5/8" barrel.

Agreed on too much HRs before the bat change (also why they the age by 6 months(?) a few years before they changed that bats).

[The Man in Blue]

On 6/22/2024 at 7:42 PM, Velho said:

I'm also seeing pine tar which is explicitly prohibited by LL.

I tossed a bat in high school ball this year for pine tar.  Stuff was halfway up the barrel on one of those two piece bats!  

I do not miss the days of mandatory equipment checks in USA and NFHS softball.

As for how the bat gets in: equipment doesn’t belong to the team anymore.  Coaches do not check anything.  Odd how they tell us all their equipment is legal, though.

[834k3r]

On 6/22/2024 at 5:26 PM, SeeingEyeDog said:

Greetings brothers,

     At a district 12U all-star game this morning, I found an illegal bat presented for pre-game inspection. Non-wood bat with no "USA Baseball" stamp. I brought it to the coach's attention and didn't see it for the remainder of the day. 2 questions...

1) How does this happen? I know the leagues send out emails and conduct mandatory pre-tournament meetings and we all absorb and apply information differently but, when you've been bombarded about legal/illegal equipment, how does a non-conforming piece of equipment get presented for inspection? Travel kid playing under different bat rules with travel ball and "just forgot"?

2) Why are pre-equipment checks put on the umpires? Why not put this on the district reps/game administrators?

~Dawg

Our district tournament starts next weekend, but I expect to have a similar experience as you.

Last year during the tournament I found a bat with the smallest dent (I didn’t see it, but felt it when I spun the barrel in my hand). Coach didn’t put up a fuss, and had it removed. Next game I did with that same team, I caught the same bat. Coach was embarrassed, but understood.

Point is, the kids want to use the bat(s) they’re used to, and coaches don’t have the wherewithal to catch them before the team’s on the field for whatever reason.

[Velho]

30 minutes ago, 834k3r said:

Last year during the tournament I found a bat with the smallest dent (I didn’t see it, but felt it when I spun the barrel in my hand)

The 2 1/4 USA bats also tend to get bent*. I get enough of those to make it something I look for now.

* Hitting sticks should be abolished. I'll never use one again as a coach.

[The Man in Blue]

39 minutes ago, 834k3r said:

Our district tournament starts next weekend, but I expect to have a similar experience as you.

Last year during the tournament I found a bat with the smallest dent (I didn’t see it, but felt it when I spun the barrel in my hand). Coach didn’t put up a fuss, and had it removed. Next game I did with that same team, I caught the same bat. Coach was embarrassed, but understood.

Point is, the kids want to use the bat(s) they’re used to, and coaches don’t have the wherewithal to catch them before the team’s on the field for whatever reason.

Coaches don’t even make an effort.  They don’t care.

Back in the equipment check days, we would routinely throw out the same bats for the same teams game after game after game.  What is there for them to lose?  Nothing.  I appreciated that one tournament site I used to work would confiscate any bat we tossed out.  When your team was eliminated, you could get it back.  This was due to us complaining about the time and effort being wasted every game when the coaches didn’t care.

[Velho]

17 minutes ago, The Man in Blue said:

Back in the equipment check days, we would routinely throw out the same bats for the same teams game after game after game.  What is there for them to lose?  Nothing.  

Had a LL AS championship a few years ago. Had a bent bat pregame inspection that I handed off to a coach commenting it was bent. Big mistake - I had been too casual and assumed coach knew what he was doing. Welp, that bat walked up during the game. I caught it before batter got in the box. I wasn't happy but didn't toss the manager because I realized I screwed up not being clearer in my communication.

Not making that mistake again.

[Vegas_Ump]

A blast from the past!

At a LL District tournament in Culpepper, VA--about 2001--, a batter lined one off the head of the pitcher.  The kid was taken to the hospital with a concussion.  The local newspaper the next day reported in large print:  "Umpires allow an illegal bat to injure a ball player!"

The umpires did a very thorough equipment inspection before the game, and after the incident no illegal bat was found.  But that didn't stop the story from gaining traction.  And look who the "journalists" blamed!

No slack for the blues.

Mike

Las Vegas

[The Man in Blue]

LLUA (Little League Umpires' Association) issued the following response to the article which ran in yesterday's Culpepper Peeper:

"Umpires do not make determination on the immigration status of flying mammals, nor can we control their flight patterns.  That said, the player was injured by a baseball that was hit by another player, not random rabid air-raiding rodents."

[Aging_Arbiter]

On 6/22/2024 at 8:26 PM, SeeingEyeDog said:

Why not put this on the district reps/game administrators?

MOST of them are he ones that couldn't get out of it, and are clueless to the rules.