[greymule]

meaningful data cannot be gathered

The more I think about "studies" of wood versus metal bats, the more I think a scientific study would be more than just difficult and expensive. It might be impossible. Without two large comparison groups—one using metal bats and one using wood bats—of equal ability, using the same balls on the same fields, playing at the same time of day during the same conditions, the same lighting, the same degree of competitiveness, and over a period of time, the methods for the weighting of the data would be too complex and open to "confounding." And since the players chose to play in the wood-bat league or the metal-bat league (for reasons we don't know), we still don't have random assignment. Forget it. Nobody has done a remotely scientific study of metal versus wood bats.

We also have the issue of metal bats not being remotely uniform. A $25 metal bat is a metal bat. A $400 juiced-up rocket is also a metal bat. So you'd have to account for even more uncertainty.

It's hard enough to do a scientific study even when everything is in place. So we're left with "I heard about a guy who got his face smashed by a [fill in the blank] bat, and . . ."

Be extremely wary whenever you hear someone say, "Studies show. . . ."

This is why every advocacy group has "studies" to support its position.