No More Metal Bats?

[Madison]

It's simply the cost. If the cost of using wooden bats wasn't so high (due to them breaking), then there wouldn't even really be a discussion on this. Unfortunately, due to the cost, metal will probably be around for a long time. I'd personally like to see all baseball at all levels use wood bats, but I've got no clue how to fund that. Not even the sporting goods companies would be willing to donate that many bats I don't think.

[Snakes Gould]

yeah wooden bats break way too much. in hs, i would use wooden bats for a good porton of batting practice and then switch over to aluminum toward the end and then during games. i broke quite a few. and not just getting jammed either. it took me a little while to get used to swinging the wood, thus me cracking a few. but at the same time, i never saw anyone get seriously injured because of an aluminum bat. there are injuries in every sport. you dont hear football coaches asking for everyone to wear foam helmets because they can cause injuries. there are obvious risks in every sport. i think you just have to deal with them. sure you can try to do things to make them safer, but the amount of times a pitcher is hit with a comebacker and sustains a serious injury is minimal. AND, even with a wooden bat, a baseball to the chest or head is going to cause damage either way. a few mph at the end isnt making that much a difference.

[emb0lus]

I feel sorry for the kid who had the cardiac arrest and i think if I were that kids father, I would be looking for something to hang the blame on and feel some justice out of the whole thing. I would want something to be done so that I would not feel like my son was in a coma just because I let him play a sport that he got hurt in and I could have prevented it by not letting him play at all - obviously this is a drastic look, but unless you have kids, it is hard to understand.

[deerayfan072]

I like them getting rid of the metal bats. Those things are dangerous especially in HS and College

[Tavish]

I feel sorry for the kid who had the cardiac arrest and i think if I were that kids father, I would be looking for something to hang the blame on and feel some justice out of the whole thing. I would want something to be done so that I would not feel like my son was in a coma just because I let him play a sport that he got hurt in and I could have prevented it by not letting him play at all - obviously this is a drastic look, but unless you have kids, it is hard to understand.

That's a pretty dismal outlook on the thought process of the father. As a father I know there are always going to be some risks I put my son in when I allow him to play athletics. If he were to get hurt and I saw something I thought would help future kids avoid the same injury I would like to think I would pursue it as he is. It has very little to do with trying to appease a guilty conscience.

[Mugrila]

I like them getting rid of the metal bats. Those things are dangerous especially in HS and College

I wouldn't mind, though it seems more feasible for college. I never saw a single injury in 4 years of varsity that could be traced to a metal bat. I did have an inch long cut under my eye that was pretty nasty, but that was simply from a freak accident on the basepaths and goes to show there is always a risk involved in any kind of competitive athletics.

[deerayfan072]

I like them getting rid of the metal bats. Those things are dangerous especially in HS and College

I wouldn't mind, though it seems more feasible for college. I never saw a single injury in 4 years of varsity that could be traced to a metal bat. I did have an inch long cut under my eye that was pretty nasty, but that was simply from a freak accident on the basepaths and goes to show there is always a risk involved in any kind of competitive athletics.

i saw a pitcher get his shinn broke from a line drive off of the bat

[chadlincoln]

I love the ping of the bat and the crack of the wood both.

[deerayfan072]

I love the ping of the bat and the crack of the wood both.

That ping is unmistakeable. I live across the street from a park and i hear it all night

[emb0lus]

I feel sorry for the kid who had the cardiac arrest and i think if I were that kids father, I would be looking for something to hang the blame on and feel some justice out of the whole thing. I would want something to be done so that I would not feel like my son was in a coma just because I let him play a sport that he got hurt in and I could have prevented it by not letting him play at all - obviously this is a drastic look, but unless you have kids, it is hard to understand.

That's a pretty dismal outlook on the thought process of the father. As a father I know there are always going to be some risks I put my son in when I allow him to play athletics. If he were to get hurt and I saw something I thought would help future kids avoid the same injury I would like to think I would pursue it as he is. It has very little to do with trying to appease a guilty conscience.

Of the articles I have read, the father often uses the phrase "my son is doing a sentence" which leads me to believe he is looking for justice - justice for what happened to his son. Maybe he is doing it to prevent this from happening to other kids but it has been my experience that parents more so than siblings experience a lot of guilt in situations like this, may it be rational or irrational. For instance, a few months ago a mother was blaming herself for her son's condition after he was hit by a drunk driver even though there was nothing she coudl have done about it other than never let her son drive. Maybe I was too harsh in saying he was trying to appease his guilty conscience, but it is not a far-fetched idea and one cannot say where this idea to ban metal bats first started. Perhaps it was durng a time of guilt, or possibly after he had grieved and had accepted the reality of his son's condition and is now putting his energy into changing the future of other children.