These are much safer, and should be mandated, at least for school sports! Let's do it for the kids!
(Whew... OK, I've ridiculed this stupidity, I'm better now)
Posted on 03/26/2010 5:52:01 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
WARNING: Playing baseball is increasingly hazardous to kids' health.
That's the message from a California lawmaker who is proposing legislation to impose a three-year moratorium on the use of metal or composite bats in high school baseball games.
Assemblyman Jared Huffman is pushing for a crackdown after Gunnar Sandberg, 16, was critically injured while pitching for Marin Catholic High School when he was struck in the head March 11 by a line drive from a player using a metal bat.
The San Rafael Democrat called the incident a wake-up call to protect pitchers from laser-like drives hit by "performance-enhancing metal bats" while they stand virtually unprotected less than 60 feet from home plate after releasing the ball.
Bat manufacturers and other opponents of a moratorium counter that claims of increased danger are nonsense.
"I think some people think that (bat makers) are like mad scientists in a laboratory trying to figure out how to make a potent, titanium, ultrasensitive bat – and that's not the case," said Mike May, spokesman for the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, the industry's trade group.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
You can optimize a metal bat in ways you can’t with a wood bat, so they will drive the ball harder. That’s just physics.
I, myself, am enough of a purist that I would like to see wood bats just to take one equipment factor out of the game. Let the kids hit with standard lumber, so skill is the deciding factor.
I remember golfing with my Dad when a guy in our foursome turned up with some of these super oversized titanium woods. Dad said “You’re playing a very nice game there... but it ain’t Golf!” These woods turned this ordinary golfer into a much better golfer. We had to upgrade just to keep up.
They already have them in the ‘hood. They’re called gangs.
Certian baseball bats are already banned. Fungo bats are not allowed.
These are much safer, and should be mandated, at least for school sports! Let's do it for the kids!
(Whew... OK, I've ridiculed this stupidity, I'm better now)
This will kill babseball in California schools....
The reason metal bats are used so much outside of pro ball is that the wooden bats break and shatter more.....which can cost leagues and schools some $$$ to replace bats.
By the time kids reach HS baseball age....they can shatter bats pretty easily...especially on an inside pitch near the middle of the bat
Of course....the state of CA would have to have a law banning flying wood shards from wood bats being shattered
Wooden bats are part of the game, aluminum isn’t. Ping just doesn’t do it for me. Give me the sound of wood any day.
That said, baseballs do come off the aluminum bats faster because of the “trampoline effect” in the aluminum walled bat. Wooden bats, because of their density, tend to absorb some of that energy and the ball compresses more than against an aluminum bat causing the ball to lose more kinetic energy.
My son did a science experiment on this topic a couple of years ago. It was quite enlightening.
Minor League Baseball just banned wooden bats made of maple because they tend to splinter and the flying bits cause injury. A metal bat which is engineered to perform like wood is actually safer.
That’s long been my strategy as a pitcher. As a baseball player, my view of metal bats is that they are nothing more than very advanced training wheels. I don’t want the government regulating anything, mind you, but as a baseball purist I think wooden bats should be used all around.
That said, baseballs do come off the aluminum bats faster because of the “trampoline effect” in the aluminum walled bat. Wooden bats, because of their density, tend to absorb some of that energy and the ball compresses more than against an aluminum bat causing the ball to lose more kinetic energy.
They have come a long way with the engineering of aluminum bats. The NCAA uses them exclusively. 8-10 years ago you had scores in the College World Series like 24-17 because so many balls were flying out of the park. They financed some engineering research and changed the bat specs, and scores are back down to a range that is typical for baseball.
You are correct.
If you’ve ever played in a softball league, you would find that many leagues have strict rules about the types of aluminum bats that can be used. There are quite a few that they don’t allow.
I suspect that there are many types of aluminum bats out there that fall into many different categories.
And, to repeat the obvious - California is full of whining liberals.
Nanny Nanny Nanny State!
My one and only OOTP homerun in Little League was with a 29 inch Bombat. It was a beauty, too. Went as high as it did far and just cleared the fence in left field.
You could swing those things so fast.
Emotion triumphs over reason once again. Even at FR.
Let’s write laws banning certain products because “I” don’t like they way they sound.
There is nothing inherently dangerous about using metal for bats. They can be engineered to be more or less energetic.
The obvious way to improve safety is to make pitchers wear helmets. But that would detract from the “purity” of the game.
Why does Jared Huffman want to murder more trees?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.