Ban metal bats lawmakers say

[AutumnMist]

Ban metal bats lawmakers say
By PETE McALEER Statehouse Bureau, [phone]
Published: Friday, October 20, 2006

TRENTON — Aluminum bats would need to stay on the rack for youth baseball games under legislation approved by an Assembly committee on Thursday.

Under the bill, New Jersey would become the first state to allow only wood bats for baseball and softball games that include participants age 17 or younger. Supporters said baseballs fly off aluminum or titanium bats so fast that they often leave too little reaction time for young athletes still learning the game.


Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan, D-Middlesex, introduced the legislation after Steven Domalewski, 12, of Wayne, suffered a traumatic brain injury from a line drive that hit his chest hard enough to stop his heart. The boy’s father, Joseph Domalewski, testified Thursday.


“The line drive came back at him so fast that he could not react in time,” Domalewski said. “The attempt was made. He just didn’t have the time. A split second would have probably had him home, maybe with a bruise on the shoulder.”


Little League Baseball and Softball President Stephen Keener testified against the bill and said youth baseball would lose participants if the switch were made. He said Little League in recent years has banned on-deck circles, breakaway bases and headfirst slides, but found no conclusive evidence to show aluminum bats are more dangerous.
“If this was, in our opinion, a safety issue, we would be leading the way for changes,” Keener said.


http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/story/6857434p-6723296c.html

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Why? Do they clank when they fly?

[EST]

2. You are awful.

No, the problem is finding enough software bugs for them to eat.

[TahitiNut]

3. Rusty guano.

:dunce: (Sounds like a Republican Congressman from Idaho.)

[Frazzled Educator]

4. I'm glad New Jersey has no problems to deal with

so they can take up the important issue of using Metal bat in little league games.

What the hell is this?

[madrchsod]

5. about fucking time

who ever came up with idea that alumimum bats are safe should be hit with one...stephen keener is bullshitting about kids not playing..

[11 Bravo]

18. My 13 year old son plays travel baseball at a high level.

They won several tournaments up and down the east coast last year, and finished in the top 10 nationally in the AAU National Championship Tournament at Myrtle Beach this past summer. Between Fall Ball and Spring Ball I have probably seen 200 games in the past 2 1/2 years. I have no idea how many thousands of batted balls that amounts too, but I have never seen a player injured by a batted ball, and each of those balls was struck by an aluminum bat. I've seen kids injured by pitched balls and collisions, but that's it. (There is also a financial component to the issue. An aluminum bat lasts for years. At the level we are currently playing, a boy could easily go through 5-10 bats per year.) That adds up.

[we can do it]

24. I Agree - I Have Played and Watched Softball for Years (OK 30+)...

and have yet to have seen someone not be able to react to a ball (and sustain a serious injury) when playing at their appropriate level - adult or kids. So just what is the motivation in this?

[we can do it]

27. Yeah and Lets Ban Tag While We're At It - Give Me A F&%&ing Break

wait they already did ban tag...

[Redneck Socialist]

6. Can't say this is a bad idea

I don't know from a safety standpoint, but it would improve the game.

[we can do it]

23. Why- We've Used Aluminum BAts for Years. How would the Game Be Changed

when both teams use the same bats?

[buddysmellgood]

7. I say we bring back Jarts.

[madrchsod]

9. that was a brilliant idea wasn`t it?

big heavy flying darts..ya fun for all!

[buddysmellgood]

15. From an entrepreneurial standpoint, it's a huge loss. It used to be a guy

could think of something exciting and bring it to market. These days, you can't market a handful of gelatin without a disclaimer. I'd have liked to have branded a whole line of toys for kids that used compressed air to fling used razor blades at targets. It would recycle, and with a few rules, could be perfectly safe. Oh well.

[HuffleClaw]

12. Jarts ?

lawn darts? the 'TOY THAT KILLS' ??? yet another case of society suffering due to parental neglect.

[buddysmellgood]

14. I just love the idea that you can ban Jarts, but you can't do shit about

guns. I saw a kid take a jart in the eye when I was about 10. He kept his eye. It hit just below. But my God what trama.

[we can do it]

25. I Agree I Played Jarts with My Grandparents When I was In Grade School

somehow we all survived...

[windbreeze]

8. you gotta be kidding me...

my g.daughter is a fast pitch pitcher...forget the bat...you don't want to get hit by any ball she throws...maybe we could just use nerf balls...I know they'd be much safer...<yes, a little sarcasm is intended> she's been playing since she was 5, she's now 13...I have yet to see one kid get hurt because of an aluminum bat...
wb

[joeunderdog]

17. The technology now with aluminum makes them dangerous.

The composites are worse. They can generate a whipping effect during the swing that leads to faster than ever FeetPerSecond bounce off the bat. This kid ain't the first person to die this year, I'm sure. That's why they don't use them in college baseball. The ASA determines that many aluminum/composite bats are illegal in softball because the technology has become so refined that the performance has made them dangerous. When hit properly, a ball can travel so fast that it is literally impossible for a pitcher to react to it. There's simply no need for that.

[we can do it]

26. No Kidding - I Still Have A Dent In My Leg from a Thrown Ball

Nothing from all the balls that banged off off me from balls off the bat.

[jazzjunkysue]

10. Switch to flag football, too. Tackle is inexcusable for kids.

[HuffleClaw]

11. *snicker*

erm, wasn't FLYING WOOD SPLINTERS the reason for aluminum bats in the first place? what a crock. a freak accident is hardly reason to change the game.

[we can do it]

29. You Got It- WAHH My Kid Could Possibly Get Hurt So Lets Not Allow Any Fun

Give me a break sheeple- everything worthwhile involves risk. So - when do we stop driving? There may be an accident.

[Oeditpus Rex]

13. The best change that could be made for Little League

and all other youth sports:

Keep adults the hell out of 'em.

[eppur_se_muova]

16. What's missing here is scientific collection of facts ...

Which can be found here: http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/bats-new/alumwood.html

It's interesting to note that the advantage of aluminum bats is not just that they are made of stronger material, but that in consequence the handles can be made hollow. So some variation in the design is possible, with the goal of keeping the bats safe from breaking but performing no better than wood bats. {Bold highlighting added by me.}

Disclaimer: While the results were not published in peer-reviewed research journals until 2000-2001, the data for the Crisco-Greenwald batting cage study was collected during 1997-1998. The bats used in this study were manufactured before the NCAA implemented its current performance limits which restrict the performance of an aluminum bat through (i) the "minus-3" Length-weight rule, (ii) the BESR test (ball exit speed ratio), and (iii) the lower limit on moment-of-inertia. Thus, the bats used in this study are not representative of aluminum bats allowed for use at high school and college levels under current NCAA rules. None of the 5 aluminum bats in this study would be legal today. The batted-ball speeds measured in the Crisco-Greenwald study are significantly higher than batted-ball speeds obainted with bats which currently pass the NCAA performance standards. The data from the Crisco-Greenwald study should NOT be used to argue against the use of aluminum bats because this data does not represent the status of bat performance under current NCAA rules. No bat which currently passes the NCAA performance standards will perform as high as the best metal bats in the Crisco-Greenwald study.

Note that there are rules in place to restrict the 'performance' of bats, but are they enforced? See
http://www.espn.go.com/gen/s/2000/0329/453294.html

The firestorm started back in July of '98, at the Ritz Carlton in Kansas City. The NCAA, concerned with player safety and rapidly rising scores in college baseball games, held a summit of ball manufacturers and bat-makers. During the conference, a former Louisville Slugger consultant named Jack Mackay stood up and accused his former company and Easton, a competitor, of making hotter bats each season, ignoring the NCAA's demands that they hold performance to 1994 standards. Bat-makers strongly denied Mackay's accusation.

Mackay explained that bat-makers could improve performance by adding weight to the handle in order to move the balance point (or center of gravity) of the bat closer to the player's hands. Since a bat acts as a lever when swung in a game, a balance point closer to the knob allows hitters to move the barrel of the bat faster through the swing. (The balance point of a wood bat cannot be manipulated nearly as much since it is not hollow.) So a bat that moves at one speed in a testing facility can move at a much quicker rate when whipped through a strike zone on the field by a player Mackay suggested a uniform balance point for all aluminum bats. "The single most important factor in controlling bat performance is balance point," he says.

The obvious advantage of banning aluminum bats is that an aluminum bat can be distinguished from a wooden one on sight; there is no need for testing or measuring to see if the bat is legal. If the testing procedures for legal aluminum bats could be made sufficiently simple that a bat could be tested even during a game, then it seems that the proposed legislation is unnecessary -- legal aluminum bats should hit the ball no faster than wooden ones, and be much less likely to break.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

19. God. Sometimes my state is so dumb. We should be focusing on real

issues and not making up bullshit laws.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bluebear]

21. Or dictating who should be able to get married.. nt

[havocmom]

22. Bluebear, have I told ya lately that I love you?

:rofl: Man, you nailed it.

Done any searches lately ;)

[geomon666]

28. Baseball is a horrible, evil sport that needs to be banned.

Just look at this list of deaths. It reads like some mass killer's fantasy list.



Hitler would be proud.