New MLB Maple Bat Modifications
 

Watching ESPN show a new two tone maple bat approved for use in 2009 by MLB. Any word about a MLB front office memo or other descriptions about recent modifications placed on the maple bat?

Related Sidenote
 

ESPN source: Top bowler sat out of a major US Open Bowling Championship in protest of a PBA decision to ban the use of new materials in plastic bowling balls. These composite bowling balls "bite" the surface and produce higher scores. The decision may have cost him the honor of Top Bowler of the Year.

Similar statements made in his behalf include:
1) The PGA wouldn't ban Tiger Woods new golf clubs that were made out of the same composite materials.
2) The USTA would not ban new composite racquets and return to wood.

These new composite light weight materials are being widely used across many sports fields.
Just something to think about before a composite bat replaces a wood bat in baseball.

Bamboo composite. Very much like wood but harder, and very durable. My son goes through two Easton Stealth Composite bats a year, and several Pro Stocks in batting practice, and he mixes in this bamboo bat when it feels right. He has not been able to break it in over three years. Other guys borrow it and it's still together.

Maple's not durable enough, ash is not plentiful enough, so maybe bamboo bats should start taking over at some of the lower levels. Scout leagues use wood bats to find out what the hitters and pitchers can really do, and they allow bamboo bats. Maybe college ...

Wes Mallot did not sit out the US Open, he sat out the Plastic Ball Championship a few weeks back out of protest.

The PBA did not ban the high-tech reactive resin balls, it was just for that one tournament where they leveled the field and everyone had to use pre-inspected plastic balls, which were custom drilled for each bowler prior to the start of the tournament.

Mallot should have just went ahead and bowled in the Plastic Ball Championship. I use reactive resin for a strike ball in oily conditions or on PBA patterns, but I (and most good bowlers) use a plastic ball for dry lanes and for spare shooting. He should have just sucked it up and rolled in that tournament. I think it was sort of CS for him to sit it out. Instead of just bowling with a plastic ball, like every other competitor, he decided to whine and cry that it wasn't fair, and how nobody was making Tiger Woods play with persimmon woods, or tennis players with wood racquets. WAAAAAAAA! Man up, Mallot.

But Mallot finished 18th this week at the Open, so he really could have cost himself Player of the Year by that showing. If he had made today's TV telecast, he would have shut out Duke and Barnes from any possibility of winning the top bowler prize. Since neither Duke nor Barnes won today, Mallot still wins Player of the Year. I was really rooting for Barnes to take the title away because of the plastic ball tournament.

Interesting Article
 

Found another interesting article near the bottom of a link previously posted in another thread below.

This Week Community News : Hilliard man carving out niche in baseball bat market
http://www.thisweeknews.com/live/con...y.html?sid=104
YMMV.