interesting story, metal vs. wood

My son got hit in Austin while he was on the mound, our doctor told us that if the ball had hit him 1/4 inch higher he would have died before they could have removed him from the field. I'm all in favor of wooden bats, what's more important the cost of the bat or the kid on the mound.

Wood bats all the way!!! Composite wood bats would be fine.

Wood in all leagues is a good idea.

I'm all for wood/composite bats. However, while I feel sadness for the family in the story, I also think their lawsuit is frivilous (SP?) and ridiculous. They knew the league they were playing in was played with metal bats. If the family was concerned for their sons safety, maybe they should have purchased one of those chest protectors for pitchers that are supposed to prevent this exact injury. Or maybe they should not have let their kid be a pitcher. As a baseball player (or coach in some cases) every time you step on the field, you risk injury. Whether it's on the mound, in the batters box, on the field or in the coaches box. I've seen batters with helmets get hit in the face and be out for the season...it happens. You can take you fist and hit a guy in the chest at the exact moment that the baseball hit this guy in the chest and get the same result (it happens in boxing). And what about the broken remains of a wood bat flying back at a pitcher....nothing like a wooden stake flying toward an unsuspecting pitcher!

Again, with all of that being said, I still like the sound of the baseball cracking that wood bad!!!

Wood all the way...It's got to start with the colleges though. As much money as Easton, Nike, etc...pump into the sport at the college level, I doubt a change will come anytime soon (reference the BCS)!

I'd love to see them go to wood, but agree it's not likely. I suppose you require modifications so the metal bats would have a similar BPF as wood. Anybody know the typical BPF of wood bat?

Wood seems to be winning all the primaries here.
Heck I think it finished in front of Hillary in some states.

I vote Wood too.

WOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by doubleday:
Wood all the way...It's got to start with the colleges though. As much money as Easton, Nike, etc...pump into the sport at the college level, I doubt a change will come anytime soon (reference the BCS)!

I disagree with it must to start with college. It can start in your own city. You city council and/or your parks board could ban the use of metal bats being used on the city owned or leased fields. If it would start there then it might progress to high schools and then college would follow.

The only way to make it change is to act on it. Who will be first?

boogus lawsuit. How many injuries are there compared to how many times a bat is swung. The same injury could of happened with a wood bat. When you are playing a sport, injuries can and will happen.

Nothing wrong w/ the bats being used.

BPF - bat performance factor

typical wood bat = 1.00

DBAT wood bat (or other "good" wood bat) = 1.15

Metal bat limit enforced by Little league baseball = 1.15

BESR - Ball exit speed as tested in a static test

AVG exit speed in standard test of wood bat = 96 mph

NCAA/HSCA approved metal bats AVG exit speed in same test = 97 mph

While tragic, this accident could have happened with any bat. Unlike the uninformed/uneducated statements made in the article, there has been pleanty of research on this issue. A google search yielded 16,900 results.

IMO - there is little difference, if any, in a well hit ball. The difference is in the "number" of well hit balls.

I am glad that Dallas Bat Coach gave those numbers. I was about to say that if you hit the ball on the screws, it is going to come off just as fast with a wood as an aluminum. You could say it would lessen the chance of it happening, but it is these line drives (smoked off the sweet spot) that create the injuries. You won't see too many kids hit one off the end of a bat and knock a pitcher out.

Although I would love to see wood at all levels, some of our posters made some good points...$$$ drive the decisions and the bat companies are making a killing off of aluminum bats. We won't ever see the wood bat make a comeback until you see people refusing to pay $300 for an aluminum.

Point is...from a safety issue, it isn't that much safer to use wood when you have a kid that knows how to use it. It would definitely help scouts figure out who could swing it and who was getting help though.

The ball that was hit and killed that minor league coach a couple of years ago was hit with a wood bat. Accidents happen in competitive sports.