Girls using illegal bats. Lawsuits?

[homer316tx]

Being a liability insurance manager, I can tell you that if you were caught causing bodily injury with an altered bat you would likely be found negligent. Negligence here would be:

Duty owed - use and maintain safe, legal equipment. ( there are rules on this, so ignoring the rules for a competitive advantage constitutes a breach of this duty).

Obviously nobody intends to injure anyone using an altered bat. If my DD was injured on the field I would ask that the bat by inspected, and we do this on our slow pitch team too. You do not have to litigate in order to recover damages should the bat be altered, just file a claim on the home owner's policy. Medical damages are what they are - it is the pain and suffering that gets sticky in these

 

[jacketsfan]

You guys worry about shaved bats in 10u? If true, this game has changed dramatically since dd's 10u days.

To the OP - you say you see close calls of pitchers getting hit in 10u. Could it be that hitters are ahead of the pitchers at that age? Maybe the pitcher is lobbing the ball over the middle to get hammered?

As for end caps falling off, DD has had the end cap fall off her bat, and I can assure it was not shaved. I have also seen 2 piece bats break at the handle - is the ball juiced?

I have seen slappers hit the ball to the grass - it's not a bunt, why wouldn't it go the grass?

I have seen many members of the same team use the same bat. Sometimes, someone gets a new one, or someone gets a good hit, and now everyone wants to use that bat.

Like I said, I guess 10u is a heck of a lot more cut throat than it used to be. Good grief.

 

[Greenmonsters]

You guys worry about shaved bats in 10u? If true, this game has changed dramatically since dd's 10u days.

To the OP - you say you see close calls of pitchers getting hit in 10u. Could it be that hitters are ahead of the pitchers at that age? Maybe the pitcher is lobbing the ball over the middle to get hammered?

As for end caps falling off, DD has had the end cap fall off her bat, and I can assure it was not shaved. I have also seen 2 piece bats break at the handle - is the ball juiced?

I have seen slappers hit the ball to the grass - it's not a bunt, why wouldn't it go the grass?

I have seen many members of the same team use the same bat. Sometimes, someone gets a new one, or someone gets a good hit, and now everyone wants to use that bat.

Like I said, I guess 10u is a heck of a lot more cut throat than it used to be. Good grief.

I guess you missed the notice on here for the Kentucky U6 State Championships. I heard the blues had to throw out a number of illegal binkies.

 

[playballdaddy]

You guys worry about shaved bats in 10u? If true, this game has changed dramatically since dd's 10u days.....

Like I said, I guess 10u is a heck of a lot more cut throat than it used to be. Good grief.

It's not the kids.....it's the PARENTS....the same guys who use these bats for their slowpitch/fastpitch league are the ones who buy bats for their daughters. The kids probably don't know....if you buy a doctored bat, the only person who knows for sure is the one individual who bought it. Like I said before, you can buy a rolled/shaved bat online just as easily as you can buy a regular bat. Some of these travel leagues are quite competitive....is it so crazy to think that a parent would buy one of these bats just to try and gain some kind of advantage?? Not imo.

 

[Cannonball]

Yeah, let's put everyone in jail, clean out their bank accounts, repo their houses and put the kids in foster homes.

You have already crucified the parents and you haven't even got a clue as what the issue may be. You think the coach doesn't know?

How American.

Really? Because someone seeks to sue someone who has done something that contributed to an injury to their child, you suggest that there is something wrong with this? My daughter was hit in the face by a young lady who had the reputation for using shaved bats. It was very serious. Before they had my daughter off the field, the dad had the bat, went to his car and left the scene. So, it was wrong of us to consider seeking damages for harm done to our 14 year old daughter? Unbelievable!

Edited to add: We had video of the game and so of the bat which included the whole incident. The video was running when dad picked up the bat and headed for the sidelines. If some might recall, I posted an edited version of that incident on this website. It was placed on a local newspaper website. I did not make that video.

 

[chinamigarden]

I guess you missed the notice on here for the Kentucky U6 State Championships. I heard the blues had to throw out a number of illegal binkies.

I was at a local U2 tourney and I swear some of those girls were walking themselves to the game.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

Really? Because someone seeks to sue someone who has done something that contributed to an injury to their child, you suggest that there is something wrong with this? My daughter was hit in the face by a young lady who had the reputation for using shaved bats. It was very serious. Before they had my daughter off the field, the dad had the bat, went to his car and left the scene. So, it was wrong of us to consider seeking damages for harm done to our 14 year old daughter? Unbelievable!

Edited to add: We had video of the game and so of the bat which included the whole incident. The video was running when dad picked up the bat and headed for the sidelines. If some might recall, I posted an edited version of that incident on this website. It was placed on a local newspaper website. I did not make that video.

None of my business, but did you pursue it at all? League or NFHS charges? Criminal charges for the parent? Seems like you could have gone a few different angles, they might not stick but it would cause enough headaches and embarrassment that it might have done some good for future violaters.

Assault
Assault with weapon
Delinquentcy of a minor
Leaving the scene of a crime
Tampering with evidence
Etc

 

[chinamigarden]

None of my business, but did you pursue it at all? League or NFHS charges? Criminal charges for the parent? Seems like you could have gone a few different angles, they might not stick but it would cause enough headaches and embarrassment that it might have done some good for future violaters.

Assault
Assault with weapon
Delinquentcy of a minor
Leaving the scene of a crime
Tampering with evidence
Etc

that would be a civil matter, not a criminal one.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

that would be a civil matter, not a criminal one.

Modifying the design of the bat, while passing if off as an original, is a violation of the manufacturer’s patent and copyright. All bats approved for play in the ASA, USSSA, NSF, ISF, NCAA, Little League or any other governing body bear a certification mark which means that a particular bat model has tested in a rigorous laboratory experiment in which its performance has been measured and found to fall below some set standard.

These certification marks are federally registered trademarks, and altering a bat so that it exceeds the certified level of performance is considered a federal crime.

Prep Blog: National federation toughens baseball bat alteration language

 

[Cannonball]

GOINGDEEP, no we didn't. Daughter was hurt but the first thing she said in a garbled voice was that if she was good enough, she wouldn't have thrown the ball down the middle of the plate. Our coach did notify the other coach about our concerns and he said that he knows what has been happening, had been told that she was not using a shaved bat but when he saw the video, it confirmed what was being said. He told our coach that he would never allow her to use that bat again. We took him at his word. When we played them again, she actually used a teammates bat but personally, we think that is because the dad thought that we'd have law enforcement confiscate the bat. The reality is that, as someone stated, on the outside all of these shaved bats look legal and so once he left the scene, we would have had a hard time proving which bat his daughter used. Oh, the rumor was that the dad that we had video of ordered a different shaved bat for his girl. At least it cost him some money.