Bats Again DUGOUT CHAT Tom Magedanz - 03.19.2002

Sorry to keep writing about bats, but if you had looked in Post 8's equipment cabinet in the press box during the State Legion Baseball tournament last August, you would have seen several bats confiscated by the umpires and thrown out of tournament play because they violated American Legion Baseball's bat rule (same rule as NCAA, NOT the same rule as for high school play). A couple were brand new -3s "approved for high school play" and purchased in good faith but could not be used in the tournament.

Bottom line, a legal metal bat for Legion play must be "BESR Certified" and must meet ALL THREE of the following conditions:
-IT MUST BE "-3". (The difference between number of inches and number of ounces cannot be more than 3. You cannot use a -5 or a -8 in Legion ball.)
-BARREL DIAMETER CAN'T EXCEED 2 5/8 INCHES.
-"BESR" or "BESR Certified" MUST APPEAR ON THE BAT.

All three of these requirements will be printed on the bat. (Note: these requirements do not apply to wood bats. Wood bats are legal for Legion play.) The extra confusion last year came when the bat companies spotted the difference between college and high school rules and started selling two kinds of -3s for each model: one for college (BESR certified) and one for high school (not BESR certified). They market the HS model as having more "pop" because weight can be distributed differently and not limited by the BESR rule. BESR means Ball Exit Speed Ratio; BESR certified models must be laboratory tested so that balls coming off the bat don't exceed a certain speed. The rule is intended to cut down on inflated offense, especially in college, and reduce safety risks for ptichers from line drives. Legion adopted the college rule before the companies started making two separate kinds of -3 bats last spring.

You also need to keep an eye out if you send a bat in for warranty. Last season just before the state tournament, Post 8 player Pat Anderson sent in a damaged BESR certified (legal) bat to Easton for warranty replacement and Easton sent him a -3 high school bat (illegal) which was not allowed to be used in the state tournament. Also, I sent one of the team bats (BESR certified) to Easton on warranty and they sent back a -3 high school bat, not legal for Legion play. Rhonda at Capital Sports was good enough to let the team use one of her new bats while I got the warranty straightened out and gave the replacement back to Rhonda. If you send in a bat on warranty, be sure to specify that you want a BESR Certified replacement bat.

I've heard that next season high school rules will also go with BESR certification, which I hope is true. Meanwhile, the bat companies continue to do everything they can to get around the attempt to make bats safer and the performance more reasonable. Instead, they sell -5s to adults who are not playing college ball and they try to get extra money from high school kids by marketing high school -3s as having more pop. Last summer Scheels in Rapid City only sold -3s that were BESR certified. Scheels in Sioux Falls, however, sold both BESR -3s and high school -3s, and when I asked the clerk about it he didn't know the difference. All I can tell you is there were a couple of brand new high school -3s stored up in our cabinet in the press box for the duration of the tournament.

Moral of the story: Only BESR Certified bats are legal for Legion play.

(PS: So far, none of these rules apply to Teener ball.)