Maple bats: Still broke, nothing fixed
Finally, MLB has fixed a broken situation.
With maple bats? Naw. A review system to fix bad calls on home runs and fair/foul decisions. Why do that now, in the middle of a season? Who changes the rules of its game while it's heading into the final month? How moronic can one sport get?
Oh, right.
So as that is implemented this very night, we go back to June -- yes, JUNE -- when the MLB decision makers finally said it saw a problem in the fact that some coaches and fans had been hit by these flying spears, and the potential for something worse was in the making. So it started collecting all the broken bats it could get, then it was going to research it and then ....
Nothing.
At least, no deaths. Yet.
But two fans -- on back to back days this month -- were struck by a broken bat flying into the stands, and captured by a photographer. Below is a frightful sight of a bat flying into the crowd on Monday, Aug. 18, in Chicago in the top of the first inning of a game between the White Sox and Mariners, striking the man who is covering his head:
Then we have this man in the red shirt being led away by security after a broken bat hit him in the chin during a game in Arlington, Tex., on Sunday, Aug. 17, again in the top of the first inning, when the Rangers were playing the Rays:
We did an update of stories on July 6 (linked here). And on July 1 (linked here). And on June 30 (linked here). And on June 29 (linked here), which is the day we wrote a column about how dangerous the whole situation had become.
Among the stories we've been saving as we pass the time waiting for the maple bats to finally be recycled as fire logs:
==From an Aug. 14 story on MLB.com (linked here), a wood research institute at the University of Wisconsin and a statistician at Harvard were recruited to help determine why so many maple bats are shattering this season.
"At least now I know we have a good forestry division," Commissioner Bud Selig quipped.
Stop it. My sides are now splitting.
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==From the North County Times (linked here): MLB spokesperson Patrick Courtney says of the problem: "It's a complicated issue. We're in the midst of a process. They want to get it right, but they don't want to make changes in bits and pieces. ... (A timeline is) the trickiest part. We're working to get it done as soon as possible, but there's a lot to it. You don't want to rush to judgment, but I think they're on the right track."
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==Ward Dill, an MIT graduate from New Jersey, has put himself in the news, for a radical idea -- a bat that he says won't break.
His story (linked here) is about his "Radial Bat" made from 12 wood wedges that are glued together.
"It is impossible for this maple bat to shatter in the way the maple bats shatter in the major leagues today," he said. "You will never have a barrel separating from the handle."
We have heard this kind of story before. There was the 13-year-old kid who created a bamboo bat (linked here and another link here) but there was some sort of rule in MLB against composite wood used for legal sticks.
Still, you gotta consider all the alternatives. And with bamboo, it's a renewable source.
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