sleuth
Premium
join:2001-08-30
Chicago, IL
 ·AT&T DSL Service
|  16" Softball - Bat Question
So what makes a good softball bat for the 16" league? Somebody here must know, I mean we all live in the 16" capital of the world.
From what I've gathered the heavier bats are better, as long as it doesn't slow down your bat speed. But I haven't found much more than that. Does anyone know a good length and weight distribution?
I've read about all the slowpitch bats, but they don't specify 16" or 12". The most popular slow pitch bats are 34/26 (-8) but that sounds a little light for a 16" league, I don't know though. Nobody on my team really knows either, since this is only our second year and we're a young group of guys. |
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Jon
Premium
join:2001-01-20
Lisle, IL | Don't have a specific answer to your question but any time I've ever played, I like to use the biggest, heaviest bat I can find.
Never owned my own though |
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jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL | reply to sleuth
Has to be skinny by rule - can't be over a certain circumference. Most 16" umps have a doughnut and if the bat can fit through the doughnut it's legal.
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sleuth
Premium
join:2001-08-30
Chicago, IL
·AT&T DSL Service
| I was looking at the Demarini Doublewall F3 at Dick's earlier. Honestly though, would the composite, fli tech bat make a difference over a normal wood bat in 16" softball? I have no idea. From what I keep seeing and reading the slow pitch bats out there are designed for 12" softball. Hmmm... I guess more reading and research to come. |
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jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL | Been 25 yeas since I played 16". No composite bats back then! So I'm clueless.
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Suchaknight
Premium
join:2002-10-06
Houbytown
| reply to jsinaiko
said by jsinaiko  :Has to be skinny by rule - can't be over a certain circumference. Most 16" umps have a doughnut and if the bat can fit through the doughnut it's legal. Yeah, then maybe he could write to Sammy to find out where to get a cork job. 
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FBM
join:2002-07-25
Chicago, IL
| reply to sleuth
I just bought this bat for 16" softball, the 36oz model. I wanted a heavy bat and none of the local stores had anything over 30oz. Used it for two games so far and myself and a couple other guys really like it. I bought it from this place for $50 with free shipping and they are in Kansas City so it just took a few days to receive.
»www.justbats.com/product.view.aspx?p=10264 |
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sleuth
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join:2001-08-30
Chicago, IL
·AT&T DSL Service
| said by FBM :I just bought this bat for 16" softball, the 36oz model. I wanted a heavy bat and none of the local stores had anything over 30oz. Used it for two games so far and myself and a couple other guys really like it. I bought it from this place for $50 with free shipping and they are in Kansas City so it just took a few days to receive. » www.justbats.com/product.view.aspx?p=10264 Looks like a great option. I had the same problem and couldn't find anything above 30oz. Seriously? We're in the capital of the 16" league and no one sells the correct bat. I ended up going with some cheap wood bat from Dick's that's 30oz. that's supposedly designed for 16". We'll see how that works, we have a game today.
I'll probably end up purchasing the bat you posted though, looks great. |
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kcazzie
One Of Jerry's Kids
Premium
join:2000-08-13
Morton Grove, IL
·AT&T Midwest
1 edit | reply to sleuth
16" is the best baseball game there is... NO MITTS , only use your HANDS... I can't believe during the WS of 16" softball you are allowed to wear mitts and the bozo's outside Chicago wear them, so now everyone does...NO MITTS
How many sprained funny looking fingers do I have, I would say about eight... But what a wonderful game and it started in the Chi Public Schools way back around 1915 when a gym teacher needed a game for the kids to play in the winter inside and a ball that wouldn't break anything... I forgot the whole story but I think they used socks/rags to make the first 'Clincher'... All info from my dad...
Edit; Just looked up 16" softball and founds a wonderful site...
---> »www.16inchsoftballhof.com/ |
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sleuth
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join:2001-08-30
Chicago, IL
·AT&T DSL Service
1 edit | reply to sleuth
I found a pretty decent link where a person took it upon themself to conduct a study and consult multiple sources in order to find what makes the best 16" softball bat.
»home.ptd.net/~bobf/research.htm
I thought it was pretty interesting. It only confirms my initial assumption that I need big and heavy and the new alloy bats will not improve ones hits. Gonna be tough finding those heavy bats in store. Also I wish he threw in a wood bat to make it a more complete study. |
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jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to kcazzie
They've allowed mitts since the 80s I'm sorry to tell you. I've been told they are thinking about banning them again.
16" has diminished a lot over the years - not sure why but there is a lot less of it then there used to be.
For myself, my favorite form of baseball was always baseball.
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Warzau
Premium
join:2000-10-26
Naperville, IL
clubs: | I still remember when we used to play after school with a "league ball" barehanded. |
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sleuth
Premium
join:2001-08-30
Chicago, IL
·AT&T DSL Service
| reply to jsinaiko
said by jsinaiko :They've allowed mitts since the 80s I'm sorry to tell you. I've been told they are thinking about banning them again. 16" has diminished a lot over the years - not sure why but there is a lot less of it then there used to be. For myself, my favorite form of baseball was always baseball. I've played on a few different 16" over the past couple years. The rules are pretty consistent; men are not allowed mitts, in one league women were not, in another women were. I haven't seen a 16" league where men were allowed mitts.
BTW, thanks for the link FBM. After a fruitless attempt to purchase a Silver Clincher from a local Craigslist seller, who was way less than cooperative, I just went ahead and order a 34oz. Should be here this Friday, just in time for my Monday and Tuesday games. |
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kcazzie
One Of Jerry's Kids
Premium
join:2000-08-13
Morton Grove, IL
·AT&T Midwest
1 edit | reply to jsinaiko
again a little OT...
If I remember right once a SOX among many other teams but a Chicagoan just the same and a great 16" player was the big guy, good old Bill "Moose" Skowron.
Yea, I know they been using mitts fort awhile, just not the same game... I played mostly short but a few at 3rd and man I didn't look forward to hard one down the line in the 1st or 2nd inning... |
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jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to sleuth
I see mitts in official games all over the South Side, including the SE side, once the home turf of the best 16" ball, as even the great Mike Royko would admit. But he would have hated the allowing of mitts - and to me it is odd too. Sort of against the spirit of the gtame.
Now - that was last year and in previous years. I haven't seen any games this season - too busy with other stuff - so maybe the mitt ban has gone into effect.
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jsinaiko
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join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL | reply to kcazzie
For a while it was even on local TV back in the early 80s.
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kcazzie
One Of Jerry's Kids
Premium
join:2000-08-13
Morton Grove, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| Are you talking about the Mike North show where he was the color guy, no mitts... I do remember watching the 16" slow pitch WS from Hickville Iowa where the farm boys always have gloves from pitching hay to playing baseball ... And the best ball was on the north side, BobCats, The Shooters so many great teams sponsored by Rich Melman and Joel Zimberoff .... At Clarridon Park Field (they had to shot water into the balls and freeze them because the guys were so strong the 230 fence down the lines was too easy)... Joe and Hank Jacobi, Joe Zelma played 'til he was 50 too many names I don't know how to spell... |
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jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL | This was early cable stuff and channel 26. Mostly on the SE side.
Mike North was still sticking hot dogs up his butt in the early 80s. Now that I think about it, he still is!
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kcazzie
One Of Jerry's Kids
Premium
join:2000-08-13
Morton Grove, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| said by jsinaiko :Mike North was still sticking hot dogs up his butt in the early 80s. Now that I think about it, he still is! How can you speak of King Mike North that way, he's is Chicago...Just ask him and he'll tell ya he's the best... He has to be the luckiest sports announcer BS'er in the last 50 years... How did 670/The score pay him $900,000+ a year...???... I guest the same way the Cubs paid Bradley 10Mil/yr but at least Milt had a background... Not saying slinging Chi Hot Dogs isn't a honest job, it is... |
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jsinaiko
Premium
join:2001-04-25
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Midwest
| LOL! The guy always got on my nerves. His ultra right-wing politics, which he manages to inject into a sports show, his phony-baloney common-man "I'm just a guy who was raised on the streets" crapola, his over-simplfication of any issue you can think of, and his presumption that his happy idiot POV represents Chicago.
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