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TOPIC: Thrown bat on strike |
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| Danny (Our Savior)
June 23, 2011
12:38:10 PM
Entry #: 3751876
| We had a situation last night and a rule couldn't be found regarding it. The batter swung and missed at a pitch and lost his grip on the bat sending it flying. Aside from the strike being called, is there any additional consequence for the "thrown" bat? Myself and the other coach agreed to obviously call the strike and then have a standing warning to both teams that next thrown bat would be an automatic out (it didn't happen again). Is this the correct ruling?
Thanks,
Danny
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| Dennis
June 23, 2011
2:14:24 PM
Entry #: 3751934
| This may surprise some people, but there is no specific rule against throwing the bat! But there are some rules that could be applied:
-If the thrown bat causes interference, the batter could be called out. That wasn't the case in your situation.
-If the bat is thrown with intent to injure (i.e. malicious), then the player should be called out and immediately ejected from the game (no warning is required for this). Note that an ejection is a serious issue which should be referred to the league president to determine whether an additional punitive suspension is warranted (in my opinion, any malicious act should be punished with a suspension).
-If a player demonstrated repeatedly that s/he cannot control their bat, then that player could be removed from the game as a safety issue. This simply means that the player cannot continue as a player for that game, but s/he can still remain on the bench and may participate as a coach. Note that this does not warrant an out call (unless there also was interference) if his/her at-bat wasn't complete, or if s/he reached base safely, then another player would step in to finish that at-bat or the baserunning. I think a warning would be in order followed by removal if occurs again.
In your situation, if the bat simply slipped out of the batter's hands, I would judge this as being accidental. I might warn, but it would take the form of "try harder to control your bat" with no threat of consequences. I don't think we can punish such an accidental act unless we see this as a pattern of carelessness (which makes this a safety issue). And even then, the only punishment supported by the rules is removal from the game.
That said, since this is a safety issue (even with accidental slipping out of the hands), I think it is commendable when any team tried to address this with their players (even if they call something more harsh than supported by the rules).
I should probably also mention that some rules codes (such as Little League) do have specific rules prohibiting bat throwing (but even there, I'm not sure it would apply to a bat that slips out of the hands).
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| Danny (Our Savior)
June 23, 2011
2:25:43 PM
Entry #: 3751951
| Thanks, Dennis! I couldn't find any rules against the bat slipping from the hands after looking into it further. The rules seem to be more strict though when addressing thrown bats after a hit.
Also, in an attempt to bump readership of the forum, I've emailed the direct link to all my players and have encouraged them to look through it especially those who ump. Might be an idea for other managers/coaches to pass along this information to their players as well.
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| Dennis
June 24, 2011
1:54:16 PM
Entry #: 3752749
| More participation on this forum would be a good thing. And there are plenty of other topics to discuss besides the rules!
As for “removing” a player that can’t control their bat, I should also point out that even this is not clearly spelled out in the rules. I infer it from them, and I think it’s appropriate for our level. But to be honest, if this happened in championship play, I wouldn’t be confident enough in my inference to apply it (i.e. I would think that if the team protested, it might well be upheld and the player removal overturned), but then at championship level, players already know how to control their bats!
In any case, here are the vaguely worded Softball Canada rules that would apply (other rule sets would have similar wording):
Rule 10.1: The umpires are the representatives of the league or organization by which they have been assigned to a particular game, and as such, are authorized and required to enforce each section of these rules. They have the power to order a player, coach, captain or manager to do or omit to do any act which in their judgement is necessary to give force and effect to one or all of these rules and to inflict penalties as herein prescribed. The plate umpire shall have the authority to make decisions on any situations not specifically covered in the rules.
Rule 10.9: Players, coaches, or managers shall not make disparaging or insulting remarks to, or about opposing players, officials, or spectators, or commit other acts that could be considered unsportsmanlike conduct.
EFFECT:
1. A violation by a player is either prompt REMOVAL, or EJECTION, of the offender from the game.
4. A player REMOVED from the game may sit on the bench but shall not participate further in the game except as a coach.
5. A player, manager, coach, or other team official EJECTED from the game shall go directly to the dressing room for the remainder of the game, or leave the grounds.
6. Failure of a person so REMOVED, or EJECTED, to leave the game immediately, will warrant a forfeiture of the game.
Note that I skipped Effects 2 & 3 because they apply to managers and coaches. Because there is no rule explicitly banned throwing the bat, we cannot remove or eject a player on the grounds of a rules violation, so all we’re left with is the parts about the plate umpire having “authority to make decisions on any situations not specifically covered in the rules” (in umpiring circles, this is colloquially called the ‘God rule’) and “commit other acts that could be considered unsportsmanlike conduct.” In my opinion, this allows us to remove a player who cannot control their bat, and I think it’s the fairest way to address this.
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