I am responding to your recent story entitled “Montana Supreme Court Rules in Aluminum Baseball Bat Case.”
As for the tragedy in Miles City, Montana in 2003, it was very sad what happened to Brandon Patch on that day. It was an incident which I hope no other family has to experience ever again. The truth of the matter is that injuries like that can take place in games involving wood bats, as well. But, it’s important to know that batted ball injuries are few and far between (especially major ones) and that the sport of baseball is an extremely safe activity.
You also made a statement which stated that “a ball batted off of a standard aluminum bat is thought to be able to travel 20 miles per hour faster than a ball off of a wooden bat.” That is simply not true. What is your source for making that statement?
It is assumed by many people that baseball will be a safer game with the BBCOR bats. It’s important to know that the NCAA, which created the BBCOR standard, did not abandon BESR because of any safety concerns because there were no safety issues or concerns with the BESR standard. Ty Halpin (thalpin@ncaa.org) of the NCAA would support me on that statement. Had there been any safety issues with the BESR standard, the National Federation of State High School Associations would have made the switch IMMEDIATELY. Instead, because there are no safety issues with BESR, the date to switch to BBCOR was delayed until January 1, 2012.
There has been a great deal of research done in recent years on the ‘wood vs. non-wood’ baseball bat issue which bears further consideration. See the comments below:
1.) Dr. Dawn Comstock, PhD (Center for Injury Research and Policy at Ohio State University) compiles injury data on high school sports for the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). During a speech she delivered on April 21, 2010 in Indianapolis, she stated that baseball is a very safe sport as football, wrestling, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls basketball, field hockey, boys and girls lacrosse, ice hockey, and gymnastics have higher rates of injury than baseball. She noted that baseball injuries are declining – from 1.25 injuries per 1,000 athlete exposures in 2006-07 to .93 injuries per 1,000 athlete exposures in 2007-08 to .78 injuries per 1,000 athlete exposures in 2008-09. Football has more than 12 injuries per 1,000 athlete exposures. According to Dr. Comstock, her research is important so that any rule changes made to any sport will be “data driven and not based on anecdotal evident or emotion.”
Listed below are here are some key findings of the study as they apply to baseball:
— Strains and sprains are the most common injuries in actual competition and during practice.
— 44% of all baseball injuries are specifically to the shoulder/arm/elbow/wrist/hand area…….23% of baseball injuries are to the head and face.
— 92% of all baseball injuries do NOT require surgery.
— 78% of all injuries (by location on the field) are suffered at, in this order, 1st base, home plate, 2nd base, 3rd base, and in the outfield. The pitcher’s mound is the 6th most common location for injuries on a high school baseball field.
— In actual competition, there are more injuries suffered by base runners than to pitchers.
— 26.9% of all baseball injuries are suffered while playing defense, 17.4% of injuries occur during base running, 14.7% of injuries take place while in the act of pitching (but not while trying to field batted balls!), 13.7% of injuries take place during batting, and 8.1% of injuries occur during sliding.
— There are more concussions caused by running the bases than by fielding batted balls.
— There are more strains and sprains caused by running the bases than by fielding batted balls.
— There are a similar number of fractures caused by running the bases as there are by fielding batted balls.
2.) A 2007 study on “Non-Wood vs. Wood Bats” by Illinois State University concluded that “there was no statistically significant evidence that non-wood bats result in an increased incidence of severity of injury.”
3.) Daniel Russell, Ph. D. (Applied Physics, Kettering University, Flint, Michigan) has concluded that metal bats currently legal for play under NCAA and NFHS regulations do not pose a safety risk that is significantly greater than the risk of playing baseball with wood bats.
4.) Injury statistics have been kept on record at Little League International since the early 1960s. Since that time, there have been eight fatalities in the Little League program as a result of the batted ball. Six of the fatalities have come from wood bats and two from non-wood bats — in 1971 and 1973. Those occurred 20 years before the mandated Bat Performance Factor (BPF) bat standard that is in place today.
5.) In 2007, minor league baseball coach Mike Coolbaugh (Double A — Tulsa Drillers) was killed during a game by a ball hit off a wood bat, while he was coaching first base.
Baseball is not dangerous, but unexpected injuries do occur – off both wood and non-wood bats.
In September of 2007, longtime major league baseball player and current Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker wrote a letter where he defended the integrity and safety of the non-wood baseball bat:
“As a former Major League Baseball player and manager, and as the father of an eight-year-old son who uses a metal bat, I support players using the bat of their choice because I know wood and metal are safe. If they weren’t, I wouldn’t let my son use an aluminum bat. I strongly believe leagues, players, coaches and baseball officials should decide what type of bat they want to use.”
Today’s major leaguers all grew up using a non-wood bat. Secondly, amateur baseball is not the training ground for pro baseball. Amateur baseball’s only obligation is to give today’s young players a chance to play and enjoy the game. There’s no need to force amateur baseball players to use a wood bat when many don’t want to play pro baseball or will ever be good enough to play pro baseball.
Two of the main reasons for injuries in baseball are thrown balls and collisions – not batted balls.
It’s important to realize that standards on bat performance are NOT established by bat makers. They are agreed upon and enforced by baseball’s governing bodies.
I thank you in advance for your time and attention.
Sincerely,
Mike May
Director of Communications
Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association mmay@sgma.com
For safety reasons, baseball at all levels should switch to whiffle balls and plastic bats. Football should require that all players maintain at least a 2 foot space between them and opposing players. On the other end, hockey players should simply ber issued handguns to get it over quicker.
This is ridiculous. While I feel bad for the parents and the deceased ballplayer, this decision is a perfect example of foolishness brought onto us by lawyers, and the judges who allow things such as this to occur. A baseball bat is a deadly weapon, when used either appropriately, or inappropriately.
A few questions:
1. What was the size of the batter who hit the ball which ended the young man’s life? Surely, if the batter was larger than usual, then he had some culpability in this, no?
2. What about the school district? They knew metal bats were in use.
3. What about the legislature, who did not pass a bill mandating the use of wooden bats only?
4. Did their son even belong on the mound? Was he too small or frail to handle the hit? Were his pitches too slow and over ht eplate, thereby allowing the batter to crush the ball back at him?
Of course, what do those three entities have in common? Most likely, pockets which are rather shallow, especially during spending freezes and deep cuts at all levels of government. So, what do the parents and their scumbag lawyers do? Well, of course, they go after the maker of a perfectly legal product, which has been used for decades without (many major) issues. Why? They can pay the scumbag lawyer and the “grieving” parents. JACKPOT!!!
I am really tired of grieving parents suing to keep others from living their lives, ALL TO RELIEVE THEIR OWN FEELINGS OF GRIEF AND GUILT. Sure, you have experienced grief. Guess what? All of us have, in one way or another. It’s just most of us do not take our grief and anger out on the rest of society. Please, go away! You are damaging our society.
Can you imagine all the “warning” stickers that need to be on all equipment. This country needs to get a grip and take some responsibility for their own actions and acknowledge that *it* happens. He should have stayed in the house and read a book if he wanted to be the safest he could be. A warning wouldn’t have changed on thing. He would have still been hit by the ball, warning label or not.
NEW for 2012, the Louisville Slugger PITCHER KILLER 9,000!
Dear Tim:
I am responding to your recent story entitled “Montana Supreme Court Rules in Aluminum Baseball Bat Case.”
As for the tragedy in Miles City, Montana in 2003, it was very sad what happened to Brandon Patch on that day. It was an incident which I hope no other family has to experience ever again. The truth of the matter is that injuries like that can take place in games involving wood bats, as well. But, it’s important to know that batted ball injuries are few and far between (especially major ones) and that the sport of baseball is an extremely safe activity.
You also made a statement which stated that “a ball batted off of a standard aluminum bat is thought to be able to travel 20 miles per hour faster than a ball off of a wooden bat.” That is simply not true. What is your source for making that statement?
It is assumed by many people that baseball will be a safer game with the BBCOR bats. It’s important to know that the NCAA, which created the BBCOR standard, did not abandon BESR because of any safety concerns because there were no safety issues or concerns with the BESR standard. Ty Halpin (thalpin@ncaa.org) of the NCAA would support me on that statement. Had there been any safety issues with the BESR standard, the National Federation of State High School Associations would have made the switch IMMEDIATELY. Instead, because there are no safety issues with BESR, the date to switch to BBCOR was delayed until January 1, 2012.
There has been a great deal of research done in recent years on the ‘wood vs. non-wood’ baseball bat issue which bears further consideration. See the comments below:
1.) Dr. Dawn Comstock, PhD (Center for Injury Research and Policy at Ohio State University) compiles injury data on high school sports for the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). During a speech she delivered on April 21, 2010 in Indianapolis, she stated that baseball is a very safe sport as football, wrestling, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls basketball, field hockey, boys and girls lacrosse, ice hockey, and gymnastics have higher rates of injury than baseball. She noted that baseball injuries are declining – from 1.25 injuries per 1,000 athlete exposures in 2006-07 to .93 injuries per 1,000 athlete exposures in 2007-08 to .78 injuries per 1,000 athlete exposures in 2008-09. Football has more than 12 injuries per 1,000 athlete exposures. According to Dr. Comstock, her research is important so that any rule changes made to any sport will be “data driven and not based on anecdotal evident or emotion.”
Listed below are here are some key findings of the study as they apply to baseball:
— Strains and sprains are the most common injuries in actual competition and during practice.
— 44% of all baseball injuries are specifically to the shoulder/arm/elbow/wrist/hand area…….23% of baseball injuries are to the head and face.
— 92% of all baseball injuries do NOT require surgery.
— 78% of all injuries (by location on the field) are suffered at, in this order, 1st base, home plate, 2nd base, 3rd base, and in the outfield. The pitcher’s mound is the 6th most common location for injuries on a high school baseball field.
— In actual competition, there are more injuries suffered by base runners than to pitchers.
— 26.9% of all baseball injuries are suffered while playing defense, 17.4% of injuries occur during base running, 14.7% of injuries take place while in the act of pitching (but not while trying to field batted balls!), 13.7% of injuries take place during batting, and 8.1% of injuries occur during sliding.
— There are more concussions caused by running the bases than by fielding batted balls.
— There are more strains and sprains caused by running the bases than by fielding batted balls.
— There are a similar number of fractures caused by running the bases as there are by fielding batted balls.
2.) A 2007 study on “Non-Wood vs. Wood Bats” by Illinois State University concluded that “there was no statistically significant evidence that non-wood bats result in an increased incidence of severity of injury.”
3.) Daniel Russell, Ph. D. (Applied Physics, Kettering University, Flint, Michigan) has concluded that metal bats currently legal for play under NCAA and NFHS regulations do not pose a safety risk that is significantly greater than the risk of playing baseball with wood bats.
4.) Injury statistics have been kept on record at Little League International since the early 1960s. Since that time, there have been eight fatalities in the Little League program as a result of the batted ball. Six of the fatalities have come from wood bats and two from non-wood bats — in 1971 and 1973. Those occurred 20 years before the mandated Bat Performance Factor (BPF) bat standard that is in place today.
5.) In 2007, minor league baseball coach Mike Coolbaugh (Double A — Tulsa Drillers) was killed during a game by a ball hit off a wood bat, while he was coaching first base.
Baseball is not dangerous, but unexpected injuries do occur – off both wood and non-wood bats.
In September of 2007, longtime major league baseball player and current Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker wrote a letter where he defended the integrity and safety of the non-wood baseball bat:
“As a former Major League Baseball player and manager, and as the father of an eight-year-old son who uses a metal bat, I support players using the bat of their choice because I know wood and metal are safe. If they weren’t, I wouldn’t let my son use an aluminum bat. I strongly believe leagues, players, coaches and baseball officials should decide what type of bat they want to use.”
Today’s major leaguers all grew up using a non-wood bat. Secondly, amateur baseball is not the training ground for pro baseball. Amateur baseball’s only obligation is to give today’s young players a chance to play and enjoy the game. There’s no need to force amateur baseball players to use a wood bat when many don’t want to play pro baseball or will ever be good enough to play pro baseball.
Two of the main reasons for injuries in baseball are thrown balls and collisions – not batted balls.
It’s important to realize that standards on bat performance are NOT established by bat makers. They are agreed upon and enforced by baseball’s governing bodies.
I thank you in advance for your time and attention.
Sincerely,
Mike May
Director of Communications
Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association
mmay@sgma.com
Real men swing wood.
For safety reasons, baseball at all levels should switch to whiffle balls and plastic bats. Football should require that all players maintain at least a 2 foot space between them and opposing players. On the other end, hockey players should simply ber issued handguns to get it over quicker.
This is ridiculous. While I feel bad for the parents and the deceased ballplayer, this decision is a perfect example of foolishness brought onto us by lawyers, and the judges who allow things such as this to occur. A baseball bat is a deadly weapon, when used either appropriately, or inappropriately.
A few questions:
1. What was the size of the batter who hit the ball which ended the young man’s life? Surely, if the batter was larger than usual, then he had some culpability in this, no?
2. What about the school district? They knew metal bats were in use.
3. What about the legislature, who did not pass a bill mandating the use of wooden bats only?
4. Did their son even belong on the mound? Was he too small or frail to handle the hit? Were his pitches too slow and over ht eplate, thereby allowing the batter to crush the ball back at him?
Of course, what do those three entities have in common? Most likely, pockets which are rather shallow, especially during spending freezes and deep cuts at all levels of government. So, what do the parents and their scumbag lawyers do? Well, of course, they go after the maker of a perfectly legal product, which has been used for decades without (many major) issues. Why? They can pay the scumbag lawyer and the “grieving” parents. JACKPOT!!!
I am really tired of grieving parents suing to keep others from living their lives, ALL TO RELIEVE THEIR OWN FEELINGS OF GRIEF AND GUILT. Sure, you have experienced grief. Guess what? All of us have, in one way or another. It’s just most of us do not take our grief and anger out on the rest of society. Please, go away! You are damaging our society.
Can you imagine all the “warning” stickers that need to be on all equipment. This country needs to get a grip and take some responsibility for their own actions and acknowledge that *it* happens. He should have stayed in the house and read a book if he wanted to be the safest he could be. A warning wouldn’t have changed on thing. He would have still been hit by the ball, warning label or not.
I found the staff to do the best wood