The NCAA News - News and Features

August 17, 1998

New standards for baseball bats effective in August 1999

BY THEODORE A. BREIDENTHAL
STAFF WRITER

The NCAA Executive Committee has approved new specifications and a performance standard for baseball bats used by NCAA member schools but has delayed implementation of the new rules until August 1, 1999.

The changes, which were recommended by the Baseball Rules Committee, will make metal bats perform more like wood bats.

The rules committee had recommended that the changes become effective January 1, 1999. However, the Executive Committee delayed the date to assure that proper testing could take place and that bats would be available for the 1999 intercollegiate season.

"We agree with the Baseball Rules Committee that these changes will bring better competitive balance to the game of college baseball," said Samuel H. Smith, president of Washington State University and chair of the Executive Committee. "We also recognize that the rules committee's concern over the potential for injury is real and serious.

"However, it also is important that we have independent, verifiable testing to assure that we have appropriate bats for collegiate competition, and we need more time to do that than January 1999 as an implementation date gives us."

The Executive Committee also voted to issue a statement to the membership, advising schools of the preliminary information that is available on safety issues and to provide additional testing results as they become available.

The Executive Committee went forward with the changes despite lawsuits from two baseball bat manufacturers. Easton Sports, Inc., one of the industry's leading aluminum bat manufacturers, filed a restraint-of-trade lawsuit against the NCAA and is seeking $267 million in damages and injunctive relief. The suit was filed in the United States District Court in Kansas City, Kansas.

Steve Baum, president of Baum Research and Development, a manufacturer of wood composite baseball bats, has sued the NCAA, citing tortious interference and antitrust violations dealing with conspiracy to monopolize the baseball bat industry.

Smith indicated that the litigation did not play a role in the Executive Committee's decision.

Beginning August 1, 1999, a maximum batted-ball exit velocity of 93 miles per hour, plus one mile per hour deviation for test variance, will be required for all bats used in NCAA competition.

To meet this standard, manufacturers will be required to submit their bats for certification to an independent testing group to measure batted-ball exit velocity of a moving ball that is hit by a moving bat. The independent testing group also will conduct compliance tests for the NCAA on each bat model purchased at random.

In addition, the maximum allowable diameter was decreased from 2 3/4 inches to 2 5/8 inches and the length-to-weight unit differential was reduced from five to three, without the grip (a 34-inch-long bat can weigh no less than 31 ounces without the grip).

Executive Committee action was required after the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet and the Divisions II and III Championships Committees did not reach agreement on the effective date.

The Division III committee disagreed with the January 1, 1999, date and recommended an August 1, 1999, date. The Executive Committee agreed with the Division III position.

"I am disappointed that the implementation date was moved from January 1 to August 1, 1999, but am confident that the effects of these recommendations will make the game safer for all participants and provide a better competitive balance between offense and defense," said Bill Rowe Jr., athletics director at Southwest Missouri State University and chair of the Baseball Rules Committee.

At its annual meeting July 13-16 in Kansas City, Missouri, the rules committee received assurances from ball manufacturers that they would re-double their efforts to ensure compliance with the NCAA's ball-performance standard.

In addition, the rules committee agreed to increase its efforts in educating umpires and coaches regarding the limits of the strike zone. The committee expressed concern that umpires' strike zones rarely come close to the upper limit, which is an area directly below the batter's armpit when assuming a natural stance.

Bat standards

New NCAA standards for baseball bats, effective August 1, 1999: