Warning Labels on Baseball Bats? [death of common sense alert]

Townhall.com ^

[TruthHound]

It's natural to sympathize with the parents of Brandon Patch, the 18-year-old baseball pitcher who died after he was hit by a batted ball in 2003.

Sooner or later, sympathy must yield to logic and reason, so when Brandon's parents sued the bat's manufacturer, Louisville Slugger, and a jury awarded them $850,000, they contributed to the terribly misguided notion that behind every tragedy lies a lawsuit.

I haven't suffered what the Patches have suffered, and I pray that I never do. I understand that pursuing litigation gives them a sense that their son's random, pointless death was not so pointless.

However, the idiocy demonstrated by a Helena, Mont., jury won't bring back Brandon Patch, won't prevent similar accidents in the future, but will lead to more decisions based primarily on lawsuit avoidance rather than common sense...

[LucyT]

Thanks, Slings and Arrows. Heh. Hafta’ ping Cholera Joe to this one, ... as well as to the article.

[Slings and Arrows]

You’re welcome.

Kind of reminds me of the CPR contraindications: Advanced decomposition, decapitation...

[Jeff Chandler]

[IronJack]

If not the ball, the bases. Or the kid's cleats. Or his glove. How about the absence of a batting helmet? Or a padded suit? How about the networks that showed him his first baseball game and made him want to play to begin with? And what about the irresponsible parents who actually encouraged their child to play a game that involved a high-speed missile hurtling at the unprotected heads of defenseless youngsters?

Wont' SOMEONE pleeeeeeeeze think of the chilllllllllldren.

[JimRed]

Almost certainly they were solicited to sue by said pondscum lawyers.

[CholeraJoe]

In fairness, that protocol was written by physicians for the use of Emergency Medical Technicians. I strongly suspect the statement about intraosseous infusion being contraindicated in the presence of a prosthetic limb, was added after a real life experience.

I could, but won’t, share multiple similar anecdotes about medical errors by physicians, EMTs and nurses.

[Slings and Arrows]

Then there must be a similar protocol for a BP cuff, with the added bonus of “Do not use on patient’s neck.”

[Vigilanteman]

They have been playing major league baseball for, what, 140 years now and have produced exactly one fatality who was hit in the head by a pitched ball. It happened in 1920. His team went on to win the World Series. Can you name him? Can you name the guy who threw the ball?

[Churchillspirit]

Sorry, I've not been following MLB for that long, but frequently hear the commentators remarking about the new bats being more brittle than they used to be. (different wood?)They are now made of maple, I believe.

It is disturbing to see splinters of wood flying across the infield.

[Vigilanteman]

Correct. Maple bats are sort of a bridge between aluminum bats and the traditional bats, mainly ash or hickory. The harder the bat, the greater rebound on the ball when hit. Also, the greater the chances that someone will be seriously hurt when the bat is splintered or thrown.

This is why there were no maple bats until just a few years ago. Most players understood the simple physics and were unwilling to increase their chances of hurting a fellow player for a slight increase in batting performance.

Even players who accidentally ruined the career of another player felt such guilt that their performance often dropped below the performance where they could effectively compete in the major leagues. The best example was pitcher Jack Hamilton who lost control of a pitch which badly injured Tony Conigliaro of the Boston Red Sox. Once it became clear that Tony C. was not going to make a full recovery, Jack Hamilton's own performance dropped to the point that he was no longer able to pitch at the major league level as well.

The notable exception to this rule was Carl Mays, the New York Yankee pitcher who killed Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman with an errant pitch in 1920. Mays seemed unfazed by the whole affair and went on to produce hall of fame quality statistics the remainder of his career. However, he was never voted into the hall because of lingering questions over his character, including his apparent lack of remorse over the pitch which killed Ray Chapman.

They say baseball is a reflection of American culture and I tend to agree. The me-first and damn the consequences to others attitude is now prevalent in the game because it is so prevalent in our society.

[Churchillspirit]

Thank you. Most interesting.