Heater in the Dugout ... Yeah or Nay ?

[Michael N]

Heater in the Dugout ... Yay or Nay ?

We played in a "Friendly" 12U/14U tournament this weekend and had 5 one hour games starting at 9AM and ending at 5PM . The temperature when we started was 21 degrees and rose to 43 degrees with light winds all day . I brought a propane heater and sat it behind the dugout facing through the fence in order to keep a few girls at a time warm as well as keeping our catchers mitts warm (My DD's mitt is very thick and when it was cold she was struggling to squeeze the ball) .

I know some of the other coaches were against this and wouldn't let the parents bring a heater for the dugout .

Just curious what other coaches feelings might be on this and why or why not they would allow a heater for the dugout ?

 

[GOINGDEEP]

We've set up a industrial size fan in the summer for the girls when it's 100 degrees and the humidity feels like 1000. Sometimes you gotta do whatever it takes. There is a fine line from being tough, or being stupid.

Please make sure your pitchers are keeping those arms wrapped up and warm between innings.

 

[chapelhillbilly]

We had heard of another school in our county where they had a heater in the dugout when it was super cold outside (that was actually a day that our school had cancelled our game because we felt it was just too cold and calling for snow) and the girls had their bats over near the heater trying to keep them warm because they are composite bats and not meant to be used in those temps and the umps went over and made them move the bats over to the other side of the dugout away from the heater and then one of the girls $300 bats busted when she got up there to use it. I understand you don't want to cause and injury to a child by having a bat that is hot and it come off of it like a rocket but I also see where the parent that paid that much for the bat didn't want it ruined, which is what ultimately happened to it, is coming from. I'm not sure what the solution is to that. That same day before they cancelled our game I was going to have my daughter use her old rocketech because if it broke it's not her main bat but it is also 2" shorter than the new one she uses so she probably wouldn't have been able to hit an outside pitch with it anyway cause she has gotten used to her new one now. Just glad our game got cancelled that night.

 

[Michael N]

We did not use it to heat bats but thats a good point . We had the girls use their old bats or some of our loaner aluminum bats . Once it warmed up a bit they all switched over to their composites with no ill effects (I don't think any of our girls swings hard enough to break a bat unless it was below zero and they were hitting light poles in the parking lot) .My biggest thing was trying to keep their hands from freezing . We also brought a box of Hot Hands chemical heaters and had them put one in each of their back pockets .

The fact that I could sit in front of it while they were on the field was also a plus

 

[knightsb]

Yes to the heater, especially when it is below 40.

Used this one late last fall. Wrapped the outside of the dugout in a tarp to hold in the heat. Several other teams did the same thing.

 

[smddad]

Absolutely have one in the dugout if needed!

 

[JAD]

We played three weeks ago when it was @ 38 degrees with a 10-15MPH wind and we had a 190K BTU industrial heater in the dugout.

 

[Comp]

Dont get the bats anywhere near the heater. The umpire someone talked about was partially correct. Actually if the bats are caught being heated they are to be declared illegal for the remainder of the game.

 

[JAD]

Dont get the bats anywhere near the heater. The umpire someone talked about was partially correct. Actually if the bats are caught being heated they are to be declared illegal for the remainder of the game.

Composite bat manufactuers warranties are voided if you use the bat below 50 degrees because the softball gets harder when it is cold - the temperature of the bat is irrelevant.

 

[Comp]

Composite bat manufactuers warranties are voided if you use the bat below 50 degrees because the softball gets harder when it is cold - the temperature of the bat is irrelevant.

Actually, temperature is relevant. ASA did change the rule for a couple of years with regard to bat warmers. However, after further testing they found that heating the bat past a certain point did have a significant effect on bat performance. I believe it was last year ASA put the rule back in place with regard to artifically heating the bat. As far as I am aware, all other associations have always been illegal to artificially heat bats.