What’s the rule on putting the Baden fire in the coolers on ice until you want to use them? This happened Twice in Vegas and nothing was done to the offending team other than keeping the balls out Of the game until they warmed up. Both times the sets of umpires knew about the issue And nothing was done to the attending team.

that is something that has been going on for years and I've never seen anything done besides the balls removed from the game.

The issue though is depending on how long they were in the "cooler" disallowing them til they were warm to the touch doesn't really mean they still aren't harder and going to hit better. If they were in there for several hours it will take several hours for the inside of the ball to soften up as well, the outside will obviously warm up first and become a bit softer but if the inside is still frozen(or much cooler) they are still going to travel further and have a higher exit velocity.

I honestly don't know the rule for this but at the very least the umps should have confiscated the balls at the bare minumum and kept them altogether.

That's been my personal experience, too, with one notable rather humorous exception ... About 7 years ago at the Western National's in NorCal, the 50-Major division was in the 7th inning of the "If" game ... The batter asked for a new ball, and one came rolling out of the dugout ... Wet and spitting up dust that looked like the "rooster tail" of a speed boat racer! ... The umpire asked for the ball and then ejected the manager and declared a forfeit for the use of altered equipment ... That SHOULD happen more often ...

Dave,

What is the actual rule of what should happen in that instance though?

Have a designated SSUSA Microwave and put them in for 2 minutes would be my suggestion (tongue in cheek)

Rulebook §3.4(6)C. • PENALTY FOR USING AN ALTERED BAT OR SOFTBALL on page 16

Generally, first offense in a tournament is game forfeiture by offending team ... Second offense is game forfeiture, team disqualification from the tournament and possible additional SSUSA sanctions upon review ... NOTE: Chilling/freezing a softball alters its technical performance and, therefore, constitutes altering that softball ... Lastly, the altered softball is deemed to be in play as soon as the offensive team provides it to the umpire to opponent ...

Agree. I'm trained to always examine the ball before it goes to the pitcher. If I feel it is too cold or has been altered, I will stop the clock. I will not entertain any discussion from any player or manager. I will not switch out that ball. I will call for a director to help examine the ball. Should we both concur that the ball has been altered, the game will be forfeited in favor of the defense.

That's for an altered ball. If someone throws in something other than the approved SSUSA ball, I'll just give it back and ask for an approved softball. No penalty.

Unlike bat shaving, this particular equipment violation could be solved by simply having the tournament supply ALL of the balls during the tournament, instead of giving a team 6, then have them buy more if needed. That way no team would have private access to game balls. JMO.

After an opposing hr the team threw in another ball. Our pitcher exclaimed "it's 10 degrees colder than other balls". He rolled it to the umpire and he said the ball is ok.
Our pitcher just shook his head.

Hitting10th,

There are a few issues with that though. First, you wouldn't be able to throw in a new ball that hasn't been hit 100 times already and baking in the sunshine all day if you needed to. By having control of our own ball supply we can throw in a ball whenever we want. Secondly, the associations will lose a lot of money in ball sales at the tourneys which is just cash money in their pockets.

JohnO28. You are correct. It always seems to come down to money. Also, re-thinking my position on it, if the tourney supplied all of the balls, some guys would probably ask for a new one every time they come to the plate. LOL!