Wrap on bat handle

I Know It All · May 17, 2016

It is not illegal. I have wrapped tennis tape on my daughter's bat handle for years. Her bat has been inspected at the mandatory ASA Gold bat checks for the past 4 years and has been inspected by numerous ASA and PGF umpires before tournaments numerous times over the years. As long as you do not extend the wrap beyond the area covered by the original handle wrap, you will be ok. Once you try to extend the wrap beyond what is covered by the original handle wrap, it can be construed that you are trying to "modify" the bat and that would be illegal. Think of the George Brett pine tar incident in the 1980's when it was ruled that he had put pine tar beyond the legal distance allowed for bat handles.

CoreSoftball20 · May 17, 2016

I don't believe the question was...is it illegal to put on a different grip. Many people change grips.

If I'm not mistaken, he was wondering if its illegal to have more than one layer/grip to make the grip thicker for his DD.

I do think ASA has somewhere buried in their rule bible about amount of tape/layers
you are allowed but I haven't seen anyone get called on it. I don't even know if they
changed the rule or not. Used to say a long time ago you couldnt have more than 2 layers of tape.

MTR · May 18, 2016

I Know It All said:
It is not illegal. I have wrapped tennis tape on my daughter's bat handle for years. Her bat has been inspected at the mandatory ASA Gold bat checks for the past 4 years and has been inspected by numerous ASA and PGF umpires before tournaments numerous times over the years. As long as you do not extend the wrap beyond the area covered by the original handle wrap, you will be ok. Once you try to extend the wrap beyond what is covered by the original handle wrap, it can be construed that you are trying to "modify" the bat and that would be illegal. Think of the George Brett pine tar incident in the 1980's when it was ruled that he had put pine tar beyond the legal distance allowed for bat handles.

Speaking ASA

Until a few years ago (2010), you could replace the grip, but not with any more than two layers of whatever tape/grip one was using. It was also illegal to build up at the knob to create a "cone" effect which negated the purpose of the knob. Today, you can add all the tape/grip you please including building up at the bottom of the handle. However, any attachment to the handle must be securely attached with tape.

BTW, Tim McClelland was 100% correct on his ruling and good for Billy Martin knowing the rule and using it to his teams advantage. Lee McPhail should have been smacked up alongside of the head for his reversal.

Wrap on bat handle

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