This just arrived. Anything new?

[Jim Porter]

Originally Posted by Eastshire

Statistical evidence doesn't bear it out. Injury rates have not skyrocketed in metal bat leagues.

You cannot say that statistical evidence doesn't bear it out. No comprehensive studies have been conducted on the issue because so few leagues below the professional level use wooden bats, and meaningful data cannot be gathered. The question isn't whether there are more injuries -- injuries of this type are fairly rare in baseball. The question is whether the injuries are more serious.

Would a kid like Matt Cook, a freshman pitcher from Massachusetts whose skull was fractured by a line drive during batting practice this past March, have suffered the bleeding and swelling in his brain if wooden bats had been mandatory? Or would the reduction in ball speed from a wooden bat have given him just enough reaction time to lessen the damage? Would Matt have been spared the months of speech, physical, and occupational therapy required to give him a normal life again?

Would the half dozen or so kids killed each year by blunt force trauma to their heads or chests have survived if wooden bats were used instead of metal? Would that 12-year-old from New Jersey still be alive today?

I don't need a study to tell me what's obvious after witnessing what metal bats have become capable of doing over the last 20+ years.