6:00am, this year was serving up a whole new challenge. It was looking bleak at 4:58am. At 5:30am Mother Nature graciously offered a 10-hour break.  With low cloud cover to substitute for shade, she allowed us to give it our best shot. And so we did.  If not for the good natured attitudes displayed by the vendors at Bat Wars this year, the event could not have come close to what it turned out to be.

One of the best parts of Bat Wars for the participants and for the browser is getting to check out and purchase the "stuff" at the vendor tables and being able to talk with a representative on the spot.  This is one of the biggest benefits of Bat Wars for both the vendors and the consumer.  The bat ratings are not only what makes Bat Wars; it is what bedevils Bat Wars. When I say that every company that puts their bats into the arena for the grass roots player to test and rate for feedback is a winner it is not an empty or hollow statement.

Gene and I sat together discussing the day the morning of the event, just as we had for the previous two years. Bat Wars ‘99 was the first time that we had that conversation in a golf cart under what was intended to be the "covered vendor area" in the pouring rain at 4:36am in the wake of a hurricane brush and on the brink of a tropical depression. Although previous years had found us having this discussion with a broken ankle and a broken hand or in record high 105 degree heat at 

The success of the event balanced on the arrival and willingness of the vendors to go on with the show and everyone came through for us, despite some hardships.

There is a human side to this event that is hard pressed to lend itself to literal explanation. As with any idea or business, it becomes an entity.

A living, breathing creature growing from a crawl to a stagger to a walk and then exploding into a run so swift that you find yourself throwing a saddle and bridle on it. It becomes as real as you or me.

Like we say every year, this is not a scientific test, if it was, it wouldn’t do any good for the grass roots player. How would you know what to spend your money on if you didn’t know what the heck you swung? The "scientific" factor that gets touched on every year deludes the point of the event.  Obviously, the manufacturer is taking on a certain amount of risk by participating in the rating event and most of them deal with it constructively and use it as a tool to improve their product. Ratings also aid the grass roots player who can’t make the event but wants to get some more ideas about what to buy. And who better to listen to than another grass roots softball player who is spending the same greenbacks on a bat that you are. I’ll also remind you that we don’t happily slap this information together at whim.  Our responsibility in publishing this information is gigantic and believe me when I tell you every possible measure of care is taken to ensure that no product is misrepresented in any way. We put the integrity of our publication above all else and the severity of this information is a very tender topic indeed.

Hurricane Floyd was not our only surprise in Bat Wars this year; in overall rating, there was a spread of only 6.2 points this year as compared to last year, where there was a 14 point spread separating the bats. Sounds like the middle is open.

The event is built around the people who play on the grass roots level that buy the equipment. It is a chance for them to “test drive” the product before purchasing and is not a contest for the manufacturers.

So what will we do to top Bat Wars ’99? Easy. We’ll see you folks who live home on the range at “Softball Magazine Bat Wars Wild, Wild West” in the Spring of 2000, and back in the Southeast for “Softball Magazine Bat Wars 2000” around the same “Bat Time” next year.