Wood bats VS. Aluminum

[Capital-Sports]

As brought up in another thread, I figured Id start a thread dedicated solely to this argument.

If a major leaguer hits a baseball with a wood bat 350+ feet, imagine how far and HARDER the ball would travel with an aluminum bat. An aluminum bat in the hands of a major leaguer would be a DEADLY weapon. Yes wood bats are dangerous at times, braking, shattering, and being flung into stands and in the field, but come on, aluminum? Think about foul balls being hit into the crowd, balls hit at other players. Wood is definitely safer than aluminum!

[Capital-Sports]

Meant to put discussion, not argument

[Vintagedeputy]

I agree Capital. Aluminum bats would kill someone. Can you imagine McGwire hitting with an A-bat ? It would be pure murder.

[frikativ54]

All of the flying bat pieces - at fans, at other playes, at umpires - are far more dangerous than aluminum bats. Why do we use them in college, if they are supposedly so dangerous? And they are more environmentally friendly. A bunch of reasons to favor aluminum.

Plus, everyone says that he/she loves the longball. There would be more longballs with aluminum. And it would be a more exciting game.

[Capital-Sports]

Im sure the number of foul balls hit into stands is BEYOND how many bats that are cracked get flung into stands and at players. Think about how many foul balls are hit in 1 MLB game, then think about the players using aluminum. Foul balls are already dangerous when line drived with a wood bat, now imagine aluminum. Fans would get there heads knocked off. Yes, we all love watching homeruns, but if everyone used aluminum, average players would be hitting 50, 60 + HR's a season, and the big boys would be hitting well over 100. No reason to ever use aluminum. Wood bats are the bread and butter of the major leagues. There not in college anymore. Welcome to the show!

[Vintagedeputy]

Why do we use them in college, if they are supposedly so dangerous?

If seatbelts are so safe, why dont school buses carrying our children use them?

Aluminum bats used by the behemoths of MLB would cause someone to die.

[frikativ54]

If seatbelts are so safe, why dont school buses carrying our children use them?

Aluminum bats used by the behemoths of MLB would cause someone to die.

Huh? Don't understand your analogy with seatbelts. I don't watch much college ball, but I ain't never seen someone die from an aluminum bat. Wood is so much easier to break, and we see bats going into the stands all the time. Not the least bit safe. I still don't understand - if it works for college guys, why not for Big Leaguers? Are you guys so resistant to change jsut because you guys like to collect wooden bats? It would be fun to watch that many more homeruns with aluminum.

[Vintagedeputy]

I don't watch much college ball, but I ain't never seen someone die from an aluminum bat.

Metal Bats Are an Issue of Life and Death

• Published: July 16, 2006

On a July night three years ago, a line drive rocketed off a metal bat and smashed into the left temple of Brandon Patch, an 18-year-old American Legion pitcher in Montana. Within hours, he was dead.

James Woodcock/Billings Gazette, via Associated Press
The Miles City Mavericks were joined by the Helena Senators in July 2003 for the funeral of Brandon Patch, who was killed by a drive off a metal bat.

Related

Hit in Chest by Line Drive, a 12-Year-Old Player Remains in a Coma (July 16, 2006)






Alison Dinstel for The New York Times
A ball is estimated to travel about 20 miles an hour faster off a metal bat than off a wood bat.



In April 2005, a line drive off a metal bat slammed into the temple of Bill Kalant, a 16-year-old high school pitcher in suburban Chicago. The ball traveled “with laserlike speed,” said Skip Sullivan, Kalant’s coach at Oak Lawn High School. Kalant was rushed to a hospital adjoining the field, where an emergency-room doctor told his parents, “He is on the cliff of death.” He made it through after being in a coma for two weeks and having brain surgery. He has had to learn how to brush his teeth again, how to tie his shoes again, how to walk again.
At a Police Athletic League game last month in Wayne, N.J., a line drive off a metal bat struck the chest of Steven Domalewski, 12, knocking him down and stopping his heart for a few minutes. He was revived on the field and taken to a hospital, where he was put in a medically induced coma, placed on a feeding tube and hooked to electrodes to stimulate his brain. He is still in a coma.
Brandon Patch lived with his parents, Duane and Deb, in Miles City, Mont., a small cowboy town where he played for a team called the Mavericks. The Patches run a Web site dedicated to Brandon, forever11.com, and are part of a national crusade to eliminate aluminum bats in amateur baseball in favor of wood bats, which they and many others consider to be less dangerous. They have, however, met with stiff resistance from bat manufacturers and officials of amateur leagues.
At home in Oak Lawn, Ill., Tony Kalant, Bill’s father, said he believed that his son would not have sustained his life-threatening injury if a wood bat had been used. “He would have reacted quicker,” Kalant said. “Like this, the ball was hit so hard and came so fast, he didn’t have a chance.”
In Trenton, Assemblyman Patrick J. Diegnan Jr., a Democrat from Middlesex County, introduced a bill last month to prohibit the use of metal bats in youth and high school baseball leagues. “It’s time to do away with the hollow ping and the increased risk of injury aluminum bats brought to New Jersey ballfields,” Diegnan said in a statement. He added that a ball traveled about 20 miles an hour faster off a metal bat than off a wood bat because of what is generally referred to as the “trampoline effect.”
The conflict over the use of metal versus wood began almost from the inception of the use of aluminum bats in the early 1970’s to cut the cost of replacing broken wood bats. The controversy took an odd turn last month: The Mavericks forfeited four games as part of a home-and-away series with the Bozeman Bucks of their Eastern Montana Class AA American Legion conference because Bozeman refused to play with wood.
“Ever since Brandon’s death, we only play games with wood bats, because it’s safer — I feel there’s no question about that — and out of respect for Brandon and his parents,” said Matt Phillips, the Mavericks’ coach.
He was speaking in the clubhouse at Denton Field, the Mavericks’ home ballpark. The clubhouse, named Patch’s Corner, was built with donations from the community and from supporters around the country. A memorial stone and a photo of the left-handed Patch following through on a pitch are at the entrance.
The other five teams in the conference, as well as all other American Legion teams in the state, play with aluminum bats when Miles City is not involved. They have respected the Miles City position in games against the Mavericks. In the past two years, in the eight games Bozeman and Miles City played, Bozeman used wood bats. Bozeman is again at the top end of the league standings, Miles City at the lower rung.
“At the conference meeting in December, all the teams, including Bozeman, agreed again to play us only with wood bats,” Phillips said. “Then on Friday, three days before we were supposed to play them, Mitch Messer, their coach, calls and says they have decided to play with aluminum bats. I said we aren’t going to play with aluminum bats and that we’d have to forfeit the games. He said: ‘We’re a metal-bat team, and we don’t want to do anything to jeopardize our season. I mean no disrespect to your team or to Brandon Patch’s family, but that’s our decision.’ ”
Deb Patch said: “It really is a slap in our face. It totally is.”

[sctizzle]

As someone who umpires games played by kids anywhere from 10-18, aluminum bats are weapons. Has anyone swung one of these bats lately? It is absolutely amazing how fast the ball comes off of the bat. The issue shouldn't be about putting aluminum in the majors, but instead getting rid of aluminum at ALL age groups.

While no pitcher has been killed during an NCAA game, players as young as 14 have been killed or permanently injured by balls batted from aluminum bats. The use of wood bats might have saved their lives, and many parents and activists feel that cost cannot be prioritized over safety.
http://www.essortment.com/hobbies/al...ooden_spdb.htm

I have seen first hand pitchers taking a line drive up the middle and it is not a pretty sight. I have dealt with teams who have lost a teammate or are dealing with a teammate in the hospital fighting for their life.

It is safe to say that aluminum would never be considered for MLB play.

[Capital-Sports]

Vintagedeputy, thank you for the references. I'm sure everyone can agree using aluminum in major league baseball would be ludicrous.