infielddad, let me try to address some of the comments you made.
First, as I have said several times before, I have no dog in this fight other than the fact that my son plays the game and is working his tail off to play as long as he can.
I explained it before and I will do so again. I have zero affiliation with ANYTHING related to baseball or anything manufactured for baseball (or softball, just to ensure I don't leave that door open for you or anyone else). I have no family or friends that have ANYTHING to do with baseball or softball gear. I don't own a store that sells gear for baseball or softball nor do I have friends or family that do. I have absolutely NOTHING to do with bats or the manufacturing or selling or promoting of them be they wood or metal. I don't own stock in any company that makes bats or the material that is used to make bats.
That is about as plain and direct as I can get concerning that point. I can also tell you there are people who post here that know that to be a fact.
Second, as to my ability to quickly produce articles to back up my stance. Well, it's called Google. I already told you what I do for a living. I am in the technology business. I have been for my entire adult life. I am extremely proficient with Google by necessity. My line of work forces me to have a deep understanding of my competitions solutions, not just my own. That forces me to do lots of research so yes, Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. are my friends and I know how to use them well.
That brings me to another point. I can post those articles so fast because they are there for everyone to see, if you want to see them. That is the point. There are two sides to this discussion (or more).
As for me pointing to the pros using wood and injuries they sustain, well, they are the only ones who use wood so what else would you have me do? I pointed to the Illinois HS study done over the course of a season and I was promptly told that it didn't include enough games to be a good representation. So much for trying to point to something other than the pro's.
Now to the study that showed there to be more bumps and bruises from metal but the most severe injuries to have occurred from wood. I will go back and look again but I do not believe the majority of those lesser injuries caused players to miss time on the field but again, I have read so much about this subject in such a short amount of time, I will need to double check. The point is, this discussion and several others just like it, started out to be about how metal is supposedly so much more dangerous than wood and invariable, the story of a kid getting nailed on the mound is the proof that is held up and the catalyst to hash it all out again. A bruise on the arm isn't exactly what this discussion is about, right?
As for the government intervention into steroids, that was a complete joke and I would argue that public pressure finally enabled baseball to address the steroid issue but that is a completly different discussion. I also said before that I had come to the conclusion that if baseball is unwilling to address a KNOWN issue, then perhaps the THREAT of government getting involved could be a good stick to get them moving and do something. I am a reasonable person.
As for anti trust? Apples and oranges. You are talking about eliminating owners from setting artificially low pay and keeping the free market from working, not setting the specifications of what material a bat can be made of. Do you really want OSHA coming in and regulating the game of baseball? See here for a hint:
http://www.safetynewsalert.com...professional-sports/
Yea, I Googled it...
Finally, I have an ability to do something concerning this discussion that you and several others will never have. I have the ability to approach it from a complete emotionless basis because I have not had any personal experience slant my views (than goodness). I have no bias one way or the other. Play with wood? Great. Play with metal? Great. Play with some sort of combination? Great. Just let the bodies continue to police themselves and make reasonable changes when necessary (see BESR to BBCOR as an example). Don't cling to every tragic accident as a plea to "fix" something that will not fix anything (safety related) it at all and could potentially INCREASE the injury risk factor (the law of unintended consequences). Baseball, like every sport has inherent dangers. Fortunately, in baseball, it is a rarity that these accidents happen but they are tragic when they do occur. It's just as tragic when someone gets severely injured by wood or metal. Period.
You know, the ironic thing is that I was beaten about the head and face when I started to dig into the issue and use or look for statistics that proved metal was more dangerous or safer than wood. I was told by posters "I don't need statistics". "I don't need some lab technician that doesn't know a darned thing about the game"...and I was told worse. Then, you guys turn around and want to use statistics to prove to me that metal is more dangerous than wood.
Yeah, pretty ironic, especially considering there is nothing out there to prove your theory correct, even after 30+ years of using metal. I am also beginning to believe that there are those (not the people who have personally been involved with one of these injuries) that are willing to exploit "safety" as a means to the end of a philosophical ideology concerning the use of wood. That makes me sick to my stomach.