As great a baseball fan as I am, I can't possibly watch every game that is played every day. But in the span of the last week I've watched about five games an in every game there was a broken bat incident that was nearly disastrous.
Over the last few years the number of bats being broken in a game has become laughable. Players have been allowed to move away from the previously standard hickory wood bats to the lighter ash wood, or recently, maple. The average bat now weighs less than 36 ounces. As a comparision, despite the obviously better trained athletes of this era; Babe Ruth typically used a bat that weighed over 40 ounces, for some time used a 52 ounce bat, and even used a 60 ounce bat! He, and players in that era, often went through a whole season and never broke a single bat (it would be interesting to see Barry Bonds swing a 52 ounce bat in a game).
The problem is that the ball being struck with the higher bat speed of the lighter bats are causing bats to shatter, that is splinter into pieces. What happens often is that the barrel is exploding off the handle with a very pointed and very sharp tip. While broken bats have always been a part of the game, the epidemic of shattering bats is a problem that needs immediate addressing.
In the recent games I watched, a couple of pitchers were nearly impaled by the flying projectiles. Pitchers and Third basemen are going to be the likely victims (although many years ago the first real victim was Dodger catcher Steve Yeager, who was struck in the neck by a broken bat and absent quick acting and thinking trainers, might very well have died). Pitchers are often not in a great position to make quick movements after a pitch and dodging a flying piece of wood traveling at 40+mph is someday going to deal a severe injury. A third basemen charging on what he thinks might be a bunt; but instead a player taking a full swing and shattering the bat, would leave the fielder essentially defenseless.
Obviously metal bats (as used in college and high school) are not the answer. Balls hit with those by professional players would probably result in a pitcher or fielders death in the first season.
Major League Baseball, an organization whose responses and actions are often measured in geologic ages, needs to act on this issue. While players would likely complain about being forced back into heavier bats (that don't break or shatter as easily), the Player's Association (also not often the most enlightened group in sports) needs to insist on some action quickly for the safety of the players.
Posted by Narnia3 at July 7, 2007 5:27 PM | TrackBack