Commissioner Selig: Please! Re-Evaluate Maple Bats
June 3rd, 2008
June 03, 2008 — Dear Commissioner,
For nearly a dozen years I’ve been a season-ticket holding fan of minor league baseball. You know, the sport meant to be watched in-person, played on real grass and getting minimal TV coverage? In the last few years, I’ve watched with increasing discomfort as these bats explode on contact like Halo antipersonnel grenades. Broken barrels go flying at players, coaches, staff and umpires (Hey, I’m a compassionate sort. I care about everyone on the field). More often than not, they land point first in the turf like an Olympic javelin throw, but not always.
 Photo | f/1:kris nichols, 2007 |
Ask Pirates hitting coach Don Long who was struck in the cheek by a flying piece of wood during an MLB game on April 15, 2008. The wound severed facial nerves and required 10 stitches to close.
Worse yet, 1-plus pound pieces of wooden shrapnel come flying into the stands as well. It’s bad enough when an intact bat comes windmilling into the seats–I know, I’ve stopped one before. But broken bats don’t spin so much as dart and flutter. And a lump on the body is nothing compared to the damage inflicted by razor-sharp edges of rock maple.
What worries me is the kind of knee-jerk decision that will be made when, and I mean WHEN, a spectator gets seriously injured by one of these flying razorheads. For a diehard fan like yours truly who prefers the living game over video replay, I dread the day when MLB mandates netting all the way around the infield, aka NHL hockey. If that happens, why should I bother even to leave the house? Gone would be the immediacy and intimacy of sports, up close and personal. Gone would be the unrestricted interactions among kids, parents and players during pregame. Gone too, will be the t-shirt launch and other wacky field-to-stands promotions that are the lifeblood of minor league operations. In short, we’d have more fun, not to mention better views, watching monkeys at the zoo.
MLB executives who have spent the last 2-3 decades watching games from luxury boxes 200+ feet away from home plate will rationalize, of course, this move is to protect the fans. I’m all for new ideas, if for no more than the selfish desire to preserve the game I love so much. There is another solution which could enable fans to safely experience live baseball, although I fear it will be quickly disregarded in the name of $BIG MONEY$.
It’s quite simple, really. Ban all bats excepting those made of white ash.
I can hear the outcry from the player’s union and parent clubs, despite good evidence that maple does not outperform other woods. Maple is flashy, it’s lively, it was Barry Bonds’ lucky charm for HR #755. However, for those of us who care about the game, the real game, away from World Series bonuses, performance clauses and multi-million dollar TV contracts, getting rid of maple bats is the only solution to keep fans from being further removed from the joy of live competition and save baseball from becoming a video-game shadow of its former self.
Sincerely,
Just a Fan, $0-Market City, USA
Bye for now!
Entry Filed under: Major League Baseball,Minor Leagues
12 Comments Add your own
1. Bug | June 4th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Despite the nasty injuries, I can’t help but laugh at the fact that there is actually a controversy over what should be done.
2. BeesGal | June 4th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Hi Bug & thanks for visiting the blog!
Yes, I’m sure the powers that be will turn a simple and logical decision into a 3-act opera, complete with 5-minute death aria. Nonetheless, something really has to be done about this problem.
3. Hari | June 4th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
So maple has become more popular in recent years, and that’s the reason for the exploding bats?
You’ll have to talk about your bat shrapnel experience sometime. I’m picturing you at the doctor having a foot-long piece of wood removed from your forehead. Okay, maybe that’s gruesome, but I have an odd sense of humor.
4. Andrew | June 4th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Great site! I don’t claim to have an inkling of knowledge about baseball, but I enjoy reading about flying baseball bats. Once I was hit in the face with a baseball bat during wrestling practice, but that’s a story for another post.
Congrats on the site and good luck!
5. BeesGal | June 4th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Welcome fellow UWC tutors & thank you so much for stopping by!
Hari: It was an intact bat I half-caught/half-knocked down as it came into our packed section about 4 or 5 years ago. The spinning bats are easier to judge (plus you don’t worry so much about severing arteries and puncturing eyeballs). I did get conked hard in the hand and lightly on the forehead for my efforts. It’s tough when bats come flying into the seats–I mean, where are you going to go?
Andrew: I’m hoping this site will be accessible to a wide range of readers. As mentioned in my maiden post–I’m a really lousy scorekeeper. The idea of baseball stories without stats will be considered quirky, no doubt, to some. Nonetheless, the idea is to provide some entertaining (and ocassionally thought-provoking) reads for the majority of visitors.
6. Stephen C. Smith | June 4th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
I’m somewhat libertarian on the issue. It seems that when the Commissioner inserts himself into a “fad” issue, things tend to get needlessly complicated, e.g. speeding up the game by having umpires call strikes on batters who dawdle outside the box. My personal opinion is that these things tend to resolve themselves over time. Hey, maple is certainly better than the “clang” of an aluminum bat.
7. BeesGal | June 4th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Hello Stephen! Thrilled you could make it.
Oh boy, yeah, those gas-charged pipe-bombs. No way I’d go for that. Everyone knows that real men get woodies.
Rick Wolff, a pretty well-known national authority on youth sports, wants metal bats banned from amateur baseball.
We actually had someone get bat-ka-bobbed here about 7 or 8 years ago. He was carted to the waiting ambulance with his elbow bent at a 90-degree angle, the wood sticking out of his forearm. It was, as Hari puts it, “gruesome.”
I guess the bottom line for me is, I know what I don’t want—netting around the field. I could probably live with maple splinters. Heck, I’m usually the first to yell, “Head’s up!!!” on foul tips into the stands.
Not to mention I was wacko enough to try and stop the afore-mentioned windmilling C-271. I caught the barrel with my hand but missed the knob, which clonked me in the forehead. No stars, but it did leave a bit of a bump. Maybe I should start wearing a helmet like the base coaches.
The Commissioner meddling? You mean like calling a tie at an All-Star game? No! He wouldn’t do something like that, would he? That’s why I stay out here in the bushes!
8. Hari | June 6th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Being a baseball fan sounds dangerous.
An unrelated thing, I never ever would have guessed that you play video games.
9. BeesGal | June 6th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Hari: Oh, I still maintain it’s considerably more dangerous to cross the street. It’s just we’re more accustomed to cars whizzing by at 45 mph.
Video games? Huh? Wait a second, are you taunting me?
You know I don’t do that stuff. :-*
10. Hari | June 8th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I was referring to the Halo reference.
11. BeesGal | June 8th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Hari: Ah the Halo reference. I was just trying to hip and cool.
Actually, I found the image Googling for “+shrapnel +grenade.” Stumbling upon the Halo Wikipedia entry was an “aha!” moment. . . .
12. BeesGal | June 8th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
BTW, found another article on the bat explosion. The Gazette covers the Cedar Rapids Kernels, single-A affiliate of the LA Angels.
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