[Jim Porter]

Thanks for the compliments on the article. I do want to make a few comments.

First, I believe the Consumer Product Safety Commission also recommended the elimination of the on-deck position for the same reasons. If I remember correctly, the CPSC was instrumental in leading the investigation into blunt-chest trauma in youth baseball.

Little League's immediate response was to instruct its leagues to build fenced-in cages for on-deck hitters. I know this well because many of the leagues in my District (I am an ADA in District 3 RI) still have them. I can even remember when my home league built theirs.

Nevertheless, those cages are a hazard in their own right. When the injury reports came in, and they were mostly bat-to-head-trauma, Little League decided that the only feasible solution, one fair and equitable to all leagues, was to ban the on-deck position entirely. Certainly the incidents were not widespread, but the injuries were of a serious enough nature that the cages were deemed a hazard.