Message board »Message Board home »Sign-in or register to get started
Online now: 2 members: TABLE SETTER 11, dawg888; 122 anonymousDiscussion: MCT Balls
| Posted | Discussion |
| June 21, 2010 Foothills Men's 55 95 posts | MCT Balls Einstein I agree on microcell balls . Hit well no matter what the temperature is . Should be the mandatory ball used from May thru September . That is if the TD`s are concerned more about us enjoying the game than there bottom line .The comment the Td made about being "fortunate" , that the major plus guys played ,(in Carson City), on a field where the wind blew in , says it all . JB |
| June 21, 2010 DaveDowell Men's 70 4321 posts | Foothills ... What I actually wrote was: "...It was NOT a random accident of scheduling for the 50-Major+ to play exclusively on Fields #4 and #7 ... Those fields hit "uphill" (#4 hits toward the upper parking lot and #7 hits up the mountain) where the potential (not to be confused with probability) to recover home run balls is higher than it is on Fields #5 (downhill toward the tennis courts) and #6 (rattlesnake acres) ... The wind direction was merely a Field Directors's bonus!..." In this instance (Carson City), it was ONLY topography that influenced the 50-Major+ field assignments and NOT wind direction ... The fields mentioned do hit "uphill" into a mountain and a parking lot ... But on further reflection, so long as many (most?) teams decline to meet the spirit and intent of Rulebook Section §9.3 (the "You hit 'em, you git 'em" rule), maybe it IS an excellent idea to start taking a look at the normal direction of the prevailing winds as a factor in field assignments at specific facilities ... Thanks for the idea! |
| June 21, 2010 einstein Men's 50 3112 posts | Hey John, I love the MCT ball too but if we all try to and/or are willing to work together to avoid throwing the baby out with the bath water we'll figure a way, SSUSA and us, to make it work. They made a stand in our direction to keep the good 44 x 375 balls in play and we can expect them to want to help us work it out. We can buy more balls or pay 15 more dollars a team to put folks over the fences in the key parks to retrieve them. The way the economy is going it wouldn't be difficult to hire some teens or semi-retired folks to hang out and walk down some balls. |
| June 21, 2010 einstein Men's 50 3112 posts | As I have said before I will be the first and certainly not the last player to vacate any association that does not/ will not look to help us have/play the game we want/need/deserve to play. Lively bats and balls, forever. |
| June 22, 2010 E4/E6 Men's 70 873 posts | Joe I have a serious question, if, in the unlikely event the good balls are taken away and every association makes the change, where would you play? I know you wont stop playing and I wont stop playing and I am very sure there arent more thern a hand full of Seniors who will stop playing, what are our options? In your opinion. |
| June 22, 2010 einstein Men's 50 3112 posts | Hey John, Seriously, there's no way in hell I/we'll stop playing with the equipment we prefer. There's also a lot of smoke being blown around which ball we'll all be forced to use and I don't believe the hype or the ability to make anyone cow tow or get in line. We, SSUSA, NCSSA, Huntsman, LVSSA just to name a few like the equipment the way it is, now and we'll just have to see what and who changes when all the dust settles, won't we. This is still America, John and no one is gonna stop/keep anyone or any association from doing what they want to do. We all have lawyers and constituents and it won't be over till the fat lady sings and she's not even moved into town, yet. |
| June 22, 2010 einstein Men's 50 3112 posts | The key here is us getting/being involved and showing where we stand. No one is going to move off or from us if we let them now what we demand and expect. No one. We'll sign waivers or use screens or whatever we need to to keep playing the game we love and want to play, locally and nationally. |
| June 22, 2010 E4/E6 Men's 70 873 posts | Joe let me re-phrase my question........What "if" our good 44/375 balls were taken away, where then would you play? Please dont read anything into my question, its a simple what if? |
| June 22, 2010 Foothills Men's 55 95 posts | Dave . I never did get the "you hit em you get em rule ". I have owned restaurants for years and this would be like me telling the customers to wash their own dishes ,because ,they got them dirty . In my opinion , your tournaments have always been well organized and considering the logistics , this is no small feat . But I have never gotten the feeling , that your sole intent , is to please the customer . The tone of your replys have seemed to get more and more confrontational.I remember a situation in Scottsdale , where one of the guys on the team took his band off and you were very ticked off about it . I can understand the frustratiion , but things happen . I realize you will never please everyone and that this gets very frustrating . Believe me I know . But when a business owner gets tired and starts to take it out on his "customers" . In my opinion . It is time to move on and let someone who realizes , that without happy customers , the business will suffer . If I am reading you wqrong I aplogize . If we have to pay a little more to make sure we are always using MCT ball over 90 degrees and Baden Fires the rest of the time , I don`t think it would be a big deal .This would solve the problem and we could get on with just enjoying the game with what time we have left . I know I wouldn`t care and I pay the full amount for my team . |
| June 22, 2010 einstein Men's 50 3112 posts | John, that's like what would you eat if there was no more food on the planet? They're not going to be taken away, our balls that is, one way or another. It's impossible, won't happen and wouldn't be tolerated. There's way too many of us to be messed with, John, or vanquished or unattended. But if you're asking would I not play if the bat/ball combo was unacceptably dissatisfying? You betcha! |
| June 22, 2010 Foothills Men's 55 95 posts | That makes 2 of us Joe . Go fishing ,or play more golf ,or find an organiztion that gives us a good combo . |
| June 22, 2010 mad dog Men's 65 4191 posts | E4/E6 as you see there is never a direct answer to any questions asked,always side stepping them.personally i will still play no matter what equipment we use.in fact i'm doing it now with the kids in playing ASA and USSSA.i just hit the ball where they aren't,dang what an idea,instead of trying to bang it out every time up.maybe if we could put our ego's in check,we might enjoy a conventional game instead of bang away. foothills i think its been you hit it you get it for the longest time,even before ssusa.i know when i played in Sacramento(80-92) we had to for league's and tourney's.we already pay enough for tourney fee's and this would increase them for added personal. |
| June 22, 2010 einstein Men's 50 3112 posts | Ignorant AND wrong. That's a tough combo to beat, champ. Right on, John B. |
| June 23, 2010 E4/E6 Men's 70 873 posts | Not quite the same as eating Joe, but I get your drift. We know there will be a change, it will be interesting to see who holds true to their word when it comes to quitting Senior Softball. Personally I wont quit anything until I'm done. Its just not part of my character or personality. Good, bad or indifferent. |
| June 23, 2010 einstein Men's 50 3112 posts | That wouldn't have served you well in Germany around 1942, John. Sometimes, it's best to re-evaluate than stay the course, like with what's going on the middle East or the national-international energy policy. And yes, I will NOT play as loudly as I can if we succomb/capitulate to the dumb down the bats/balls movement in a way that we lose our "game" and our game. |
| June 23, 2010 Lecak Men's 60 1026 posts | Who is changing? I'll be shocked if LVSSA makes any changes. E4/E6 the other associations it sounds like you know something for certain. Given your expectations for change I could see LVSSA entertaining additional tournaments under our current format. I know I would push the membership to think about it. |
| June 23, 2010 thebull Men's 50 59 posts | I’ve been following the discussions about the 52/275 balls, I’ve heard negative and positive comments about the ball but nothing descriptive enough for me to form an opinion. SO, I decided to find out for myself and bought a dozen, went out yesterday and put them to the test. Here were the conditions. I’m big and hit consistently with power, weather was high 90’s and sunny, elevation is 5000’, field with 300’ fences. We started a mixture of Trump and Decker 44/375 balls as well as the 52/275, left them all in the sun for about 15 minutes then started. I was using a Miken Freak Limited and was hitting the 44/375 balls consistently between 330’ and 360’ with an occasional 380” plus. I didn’t put any of the 52/275’s out but did hit the fence a couple of times. Next round I hit using the Ultra 2, the results with the 44/375’s was about the same except I hit more out due to the larger sweet spot, I did hit the 52/250 harder with the Ultra and hit two line drives out at about 320’. A Friend who also hits with power had similar results. Here’s my opinion for what’s its worth. The 52/275 is Junk, it hits bad, feels bad and sounds bad and is bouncy. Sounds like an Old Lady beating a Rug in the back yard. I understand that sound and feel are not as important as performance but it lacks in performance also. This ball hits like the 16” much ball I hit years ago in Arizona in Recreational Tournaments. If this ball is used it will completely change the game, yes I can hit it out but too infrequently and would not even try. The game would become a base hitting placement game, which I believe is what it’s proponents really want, take the big power hitters out of the game and reduce hitting to the lowest common denominator so everyone is equal. Anyway, if Seniors switch to the 52/275 I will still play locally but would not spend my money to travel to Tournaments, the Teammates I’ve spoken with feel the same. theBull |
| June 23, 2010 Fred Scerra Men's 80 542 posts | This discussion is basically academic as if I understand it right the 44/375 MCT's are no longer being made as they have been banned by the ASA. Some of us who still have them are hoarding them. Though I think the 44/400 is still being made but I never found them to be as good as the 44/375's. The replacements for the MCT's I don't find are as good. |
| June 23, 2010 thebull Men's 50 59 posts | Fred, didn't know 44/375 aren't being made any longer. Where do you find that information. I looked at the ASA website and searched it and did't find any info. theBull |
| June 23, 2010 E4/E6 Men's 70 873 posts | Joe you have a way about you my friend. But this isnt Germany, Iraq, Afganistan, or any other war torn area in our world. I am in total agreement with most who dont want to play with a sock, but will if thats all there is in the interim. Will we travel as much? Hard to say until that time comes. I for one will not stop playing something I love as much as our game. That is like cutting off your nose to spite your face, it solves nothing and only makes you look bad. TheBull, we called those 16" balls "Punkin Balls", after 2 innings it was a poke to get them out of the infield. |
| June 23, 2010 Fred Scerra Men's 80 542 posts | From Bob at Evil Sports. ASA last year decided to strictly enforce the ball standards like they have on the bats and the Evil/Trump MCT and the Dudley TA's were no longer approved for ASA play which is a way of saying that they are banned. |
| June 23, 2010 JamesLG 420 posts | I believe you would see a lot fewer teams travel and pay there hard earned money to go play with a mush ball. I would also venture to say the folks at Miken would be hurt by the loss of sales. I play and pay to hit a good ball with a good bat as do most of the guys I know. Thanks: James |
| June 23, 2010 E4/E6 Men's 70 873 posts | It seems everyone thinks any new ball introduced will be a sock, the past proves that wrong. Given a challenge manufactures have always managed to come back with what we want. A ball and bat combo that hit well and hold up under adverse conditions. |
| June 23, 2010 einstein Men's 50 3112 posts | Hey John. The point I'm trying to make is that ball change or anything else for that matter only goes down when WE say it does because we make the choices to spend or not spend our money. They can't stop a man or company from trying to make a living selling us balls nor should they and they won't stop me or anyone else from seeking, finding and developing tournaments in which to play our game. No freakin' way. This is still America. |
| June 23, 2010 E4/E6 Men's 70 873 posts | Free enterprise at its finest! Theoretically you're right Joe, but until we get an association in place to rival the big boys, they call the shots. You can talk about it all you like, but thats all it is, is talk. Maybe its time to walk the walk. Getting anything organized on the scale necessary would be incredibly time and $$$ consuming. At our ages by the time it was in place on a large enough scale our kids would be playing Senior ball. Kinda like fighting City Hall so to speak. |
| June 24, 2010 einstein Men's 50 3112 posts | It's much ado about nothing for me, John. We will find/develop a way to play the game we want to play or we'll move on. It's possible to get a sense of what's been going on in and around us regarding the latest changes in bats and balls and it's not the juggernaut of civility and safety it's cracked up to be. Lots of greed, self interest and hypocrisy going on... typical Americana circa 2010 business as usual and we still have the right to chose. |
