Wood Bats

[Rich]

Originally Posted by WhatWuzThatBlue

Okay...I admit that I never played with an aluminum bat. My formative years held the glory of Louisville Slugger and Adirondack squarely in its grasp. My high school years were filled with memories of bats being broken like toothpicks on cold, Spring days. My parents didn't think it was necessary to pay for batting gloves, so I got fistfulls of bees nearly every game. I liked the sound of a ball coming off of a wood bat and never really catered to the hybrids as they came out. Even now, I work a few Fall wood bat tourneys and the clock turns back forty years.

The reason I wax nostalgic is that the Chicago Public School system is considering an all wood bat policy. They would like to institute this change beginning next Spring. The board justifies it because they feel that metal bats are teaching our youths very little. Now, the CPS is not rolling in dough and I know that each program will need a couple dozen bats to last the season. The economy of it is striking. Yes, a metal bat (don't call it aluminum, pops) costs a king's ransom, but so does a box of future kindling.

Do any of you work High School or college ball that mandates the use of wood bats?

No, but I assign/work a 44-team adult league in Wisconsin that is all wood bat.

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--Rich