One year ago I wrote about how I feel about "bat doctoring". I feel very strongly that the issue needs to be revisited now, and every chance I get until this stops. If you've never heard of bat doctoring, great - skip right to getting your coupon. If you have heard of it, or know someone who has had a bat doctored, beware that the penalty may be more than just getting kicked out of the game.

Bat doctoring, which includes bat rolling, is simply any altering of the bat after it is purchased other than through normal use hitting regulation balls. This can be done by shaving the inside of the barrel to make the bat wall thinner and more flexible, rolling the bat in a contraption that squeezes it in a vise, relabeling unapproved bats to make them appear to be certified, and a number of other methods to make the bat hotter than the manufacturer and rules intended. These methods make the ball come off the bat faster than the legal limit.

Man in the Mirror
It is time for anyone reading this that has used a doctored bat to face yourself in the mirror. Is it really worth the risk of injury and death to artificially hit a home run? It's bad enough that this began and was limited to men's slowpitch bats. At least we could just say "boys will be boys". But now it has invaded the game our daughters play. Parents and coaches are putting illegal weapons in the hands of teenagers. Shame on each and every one of you.

I say this with the utmost conviction that I believe anyone doing the tampering or using an altered bat should be summarily shot, then banned from the game for life. Oh, and one more thing - if you buy a new bat from a "bat doctor" keep in mind it is most likely a stolen bat.

Black Market Bats
Here I speak from personal experience. Our store has been, especially in the last few months, the victim of theft. Since August 1, 2008 we have been victimized to the tune of over $30,000.00 in stolen bats. Of those the majority are softball bats. The person responsible for this crime is the "bat doctor". If you buy a bat from a bat doctor, it is almost certainly a stolen bat. If you see a bat online for half the cost of the same model at a retail store, it’s a stolen bat. You see there is not that much profit in the expensive bats. But, most bat doctors and fences have bats for 40 or 50 percent less than the retail price. Do the math; if someone is selling a bat for 50% below retail then it's a stolen bat, no matter how much paperwork he has proving where he got it!

However, the real victim here is the honest consumer. Those bats stolen from us, and all the other stores, are sold online at various outlets. The bat companies are doing a pretty good job of policing the receipts if the bats are sent back for warranty, but that certainly has not stopped the "bat doctors". With that much being stolen all over the country prices are going to go up and selection will go down.

Altering a Certified Bat is a Federal Crime
Felony: That word carries a lot of weight, and although the law is lagging behind when it comes to altered equipment, lawyers like to make new law. The days are coming when the games' rules makers won’t be able to simply issue a new rule to avoid a lawsuit. Players are getting hurt and the lawyers are swarming. Don’t forget about the 2 idiots in Oklahoma - The U.S. District Court for Western Oklahoma awarded the ASA $100,000 from each defendant in damages and attorney's fees totaling approximately $12,000 against the first two defendants in the ASA's ongoing attempts to rid the game of softball of illegal equipment including painting and other techniques used to alter bats.

Real doctors heading up the cause
Dr. Daniel A. Russell, Ph.D. has been working for many years to rid our games of stupid people who alter bats. He has written several papers regarding bat tampering, as well as his specialty; Physics and Acoustics of Baseball & Softball Bats.
http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/bats.html

Dr. Mark McDowell, Ph.D., MBA and Dr. Michael V. Ciocco, Ph.D. promote "Safety through Scientific Laboratory and Field-Testing Research" through Bomani Sports Research, Inc. Based in Cleveland, Ohio and found online at http://www.bomani.com/BSRI2009, doctors McDowell and Ciocco are the founders of BSRSA, Bomani Sports Research Softball Association. Using the BSRSA rules a league can easily have a safer, more fun game than any other association has to offer. Dr, McDowell is one of the best softball players anyone has ever seen. He needs no juiced bat to hit the ball.

He says, "I am 110% against altering any bat for any reason. There are players on every team that I play on using shaved bats. I had practice today and witnessed player after player hitting balls way out of the park and clearly it is because of altered bats...Juiced/Altered bats have taken the fun out of the game for me in a big way and actually slaps in the face of the hard working/practicing player who truly wants to get better. It is kind of like a FAKE diet pill that eventually will backfire on you."

If you want to legitimately hit a ball hard you must get the video "How To Be A Consistent Power Hitter" available at http://www.bomani.com/BSRI2009

You can do something about this, and you should
Do you debate whether Barry Bonds, Mark Maguire, or any ball player should or should not be denied election into the Hall of Fame because they used steroids? I don’t have an answer for that, although the debate is fun. But anyone who doctors a bat, or uses a doctored bat is just as guilty of cheating as anyone.

If you have read this far I thank you and I hope you are as outraged about this as I am. I'm not going to ask you to e-mail all your friends an e-petition. But you can do something very simple to help stamp out this crime. Don’t use an altered bat. If you have one, throw it away. Or take advantage of our amnesty program.