New York City bans aluminum bats, is California next?
Should the state ban aluminum bats from high school baseball? Should CIF do it? Is aluminum dangerous? And how much will it cost to change to wood bats?
Read this story by Michael Hampton from Homelandstupidity.com
New York City has completely gone off the deep end. Its city council has done virtually nothing of note except look for new and interesting things to ban. The latest victim of the city’s rulers’ hatred of freedom is the common aluminum baseball bat. The city council voted Wednesday to ban the baseball bats, with enough votes to override a veto which had been promised by mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Councilors who voted for the measure painted it as a safety issue.
But opponents said that aside from anecdotal evidence, there was no actual scientific evidence that aluminum bats were any more dangerous than wooden bats.
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Most interesting was how this proposal divided major league baseball players, with many voicing their support, and many others opposing the ban.
The measure bans the use of aluminum bats in high school baseball games. It was significantly narrowed from a previous measure also brought by freedom-hater James S. Oddo (R-Staten Island) which would have banned aluminum bats from virtually any baseball game anywhere in the city.
“I know this is not the most pressing issue on the minds of New Yorkers,” Mr. Oddo said shortly before the vote, “but I really believe in this bill. There is risk in all sports, and there is risk in baseball playing with a wooden bat, but when the risk becomes unreasonable, people have to act.”
City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, who rallied support for the measure among council members, added, “We think this is an appropriate safety step for us to protect our high school athletes.”
The bill passed by 40-6 with two abstentions. It would need 34 votes, two-thirds of the 51 members on the council, to override a veto.
Speaking before today’s vote, Mayor Bloomberg declined to say whether he would oppose the legislation.
“I have been called by professional baseball players, who are friends of mine, on both sides of the issue and I’ll look at the data and try to decide whether or not it’s an appropriate thing for the city to do, to get involved, and if so, what the science says,” Mr. Bloomberg said. — New York Times
Apparently, balls fly off aluminum bats faster than off wooden bats and kill unsuspecting children, or so critics of aluminum bats say.
Opponents of the bill, who included not only industry groups but Little League, say that’s preposterous.
“This unnecessary legislation clearly was not supported by factual data, and will ultimately harm the baseball programs of the city’s high schools,” Stephen D. Keener, president and chief executive officer of Little League Baseball and Softball, said in a statement after the vote.
“This is not a safety issue,” said Jim Darby, spokesman for Easton Sports, a leading bat maker based in Van Nuys, Calif. He added that his company and the industry would “look at all the different options out there” to block the legislation, including possible legal action.
In a statement after the vote, Mr. Darby added: “We are obviously disappointed with today’s vote, but we applaud the council members who recognized the facts and voted against this wrongheaded bill. We are hopeful that Mayor Bloomberg will also recognize that this ban will neither enhance safety nor improve the game of baseball and veto this bill.” — Ibid.
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Melendez worked as a correspondent for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune for three years and later landed a job as a freelance writer at the Los Angeles Times before accepting an offer at The Orange County Register covering high schools. Melendez covered Major League Soccer at The Register for three years before being promoted to report on the Lakers, Angels and Dodgers for the Web. Melendez also worked for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fresno Bee, Oakland Tribune and The Boston Globe. E-mail opinions, suggestions and tips to miguel.melendez@sgvn.com. |
I have always wondered why aluminum bats are used until players get to the major leagues. - Seems like we are not using the right "training tools."
Some interesting links:
http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/bats-new/alumwood.html
http://webusers.npl.uiuc.edu/~a-nathan/pob/MIAA.pdf
I believe the CIF had some data concerning velocities generated from bats with a higher length/weight ratio. Back in 2000, they regulated bats from – 7 to -5 that year, with a -3 requirement for the 2001 year. The -3 value apparently slows down the bat speed to acceptable levels. It’s funny that youth sports groups still allow ratios of up to -11. This does cause some adjustment issues for players in their Freshman year. Going from a -11 to a -3 is a big adjustment in a short period of time. I have also heard rumored that manufacturers have been able to maintain higher velocities by off-setting bat loading and adding flex features. Does anybody have any information on this?
I suppose kids will have to learn at an earlier age the proper way to hit a baseball...no more cheap hits off the lower part of the bat.
Does anybody know when aluminum bats became popular. I think my dad played all his life with wooden bats.
Why, o, why would the East Coast be so absent-minded? If Metal bats are so dangerous, then why does NCAA baseball use aluminum instead of wooden bats? Honestly, how many times has anyone heard of a college baseball player (by defalt, much stronger, and therfore able to hit balls with more power than high-schoolers) seriously injuring a player because he hit a ball too hard for that defender to react. I, for one, have not heard of any such scenario at any level (spare the RARE phenomenom that a pitcher is drilled by a come-backer, and even then the outcome is almost never a major injury).
My hypothesis is that those who voted such a bill in have never stepped foot on a baseball field, rather they were merely persuaded by, say, one or two fluke accidents proposed as supporting evidence (probably just cases of kids not paying attention). Another possible explanation: the politicians who voted for this have some personal interest in the switch to wooden bats, if you know what I mean...
Regardless, I am grateful that California legistlators are not rash enough to pursue such a rediculous proposition. (think about how such a change would upturn High school baseball, not to mention how much would will cost to stock hs teams with wood bats and replace them when they shatter or crack!!)
I deeply hope that this motion is shot down.
what do college players use?
This is an outrage.