Another reason to get rid of aluminum bats

[David B]

Originally Posted by jkumpire

This is the URL for the FED rules survey:

2010 NFHS BASEBALL RULES QUESTIONNAIRE Survey

Or:

NFHS | NFHS 2010 Spring Sport Questionnaires

Along with all the other things in the survey, there are two questions of interest for this thread:

Part III- Would you be in favor of:

2. Mandating wood bats only for high school competition.
3. Mandating dual-flap batting helmets that meet the NOCSAE standard on all pitchers.

I am for wood bats, and against helmets, but with the way things are going in this country and it's drive for a no-risk world, it would not surprise me if the lawyers decided NFHS should mandate helmets with face masks for pitchers in the near future.

And if the chair of the FED rules committee is correct, as he stated in a recent post that "While high school baseball is one of the most safe team sports there is in high school, 80+% of what injuries they have are to the lower extremities (legs, knees, ankles) and 80+% of those injuries occur during sliding..." we will see some rule changes about that too.

BTW, one other part of the FED survey:

Would you be in favor of:

1. Eliminating the allowance of head first sliding.

ESPN running that play 400 times since it happened last weekend is not a good thing for the game...

No, some of the most beautiful plays involve a head first slide, and also you get some of those at first base that are very effective.

I do like the idea of wood bats, its getting really dangerous for pitchers.

But, cost effective? Don't know if the schools will go for it.

Thanks
David

[Rich Ives]

They toned down bats with BESR.

In 2012 they're getting toned down more with BBCOR.

If they mandate wood someone will STILL get hit in the head with a batted ball.

Helmet? Heck, mandate an L-Screen.

[JJ]

I have always felt they should quit screwing around with bats and use restricted flight baseballs instead....a lot less pricey....
Hey! Nerf FED Baseball!

JJ

[Nevadaref]

[Rich Ives]

Originally Posted by JJ

I have always felt they should quit screwing around with bats and use restricted flight baseballs instead....a lot less pricey....
Hey! Nerf FED Baseball!

JJ

The baseballs, depending on their endorsed use, do have different CORs already.

Dumb down the ball too much and we'll be moving fences in so players can hit HRs.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Rich Ives

If they mandate wood someone will STILL get hit in the head with a batted ball.

I come from a background where you have to prove your information. Just saying that going to wood would eliminate injuries is silly. That is why I agree with your statement here.

Peace

[MrUmpire]

Originally Posted by Rich Ives

If they mandate wood someone will STILL get hit in the head with a batted ball.

I don't know that anyone has said otherwise. The question is would players get hit with the same frequency and severity with wood bats as with metal bats? Unfortunately we don't have accurate stats about this at the youth, HS and college level before they went to metal.

[grunewar]

Freak Softball Accident Results in Man?s Death, Teenager Collapses at Basketball Game | Loudoun Independent

Saw this on he news tonight. Ironic that we've been talking about it.

On the tv news it said he was hit more below the ear than throat. Whatever......

And this was softball.....hey, it can happen.

Sad.

[Rich]

I was there last night. It was scary:

Boy hit in head by broken bat at Milwaukee Brewers game - ESPN

[SAump]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

I was there last night. It was scary:

Boy hit in head by broken bat at Milwaukee Brewers game - ESPN

MLB millionaires continues to thumb their nose at the issue while hiding behind a small statement printed on the back of every MLB ticket. MLB and it's commissioner refuse to support a safe alternative. Both broken bats and foul line drives will continue to injure numerous MLB fans each year. MLB can easily mandate some cheap 10 foot netting to extend from each dugout to the backstop netting already in place to put a stop to these senseless injuries. The clock continues to run on MLB ...

[yawetag]

Originally Posted by SAump

MLB millionaires continues to thumb their nose at the issue while hiding behind a small statement printed on the back of every MLB ticket. MLB and it's commissioner refuse to support a safe alternative. Both broken bats and foul line drives will continue to injure numerous MLB fans each year. MLB can easily mandate some cheap 10 foot netting to extend from each dugout to the backstop netting already in place to put a stop to these senseless injuries. The clock continues to run on MLB ...

While we're at it, why don't we enclose all of the stands in plexiglass? Foul balls are dangerous, too.

Don't add more netting. The number of these cases every year are so small. By adding the netting, you're taking away the chance for any play on a foul ball the defense could make against the wall.

Yes, hockey recently expanded their netting, but pucks hit into it were already out-of-play. By adding netting to baseball, you're putting some balls out-of-play that could have otherwise been playable.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by grunewar

And this was softball.....hey, it can happen.

Sad.

Ever play softball with a Red Dot? Those suckers are as hard, if not harder than a baseball. I don't know why they call those rockets softballs.

[grunewar]

Baseball Video Highlights & Clips | CLE@NYY: Huff struck in the head by an A-Rod liner - Video | MLB.com: Multimedia

[DG]

Originally Posted by grunewar

Baseball Video Highlights & Clips | CLE@NYY: Huff struck in the head by an A-Rod liner - Video | MLB.com: Multimedia

I pretty sure ARod not using an aluminum bat so what's your point? You want a net for the pitcher?

[grunewar]

Originally Posted by DG

I pretty sure ARod not using an aluminum bat so what's your point? You want a net for the pitcher?

Nope, not my intent at all.

If you start all the way back at the beginning of this thread we have discussed quite a bit about the velocity of balls hit with wood vs aluminum, discussed instances of HS, College and MLB pitchers getting hit (see post #2 and #4 for example), and posted other links.

I was merely posting the latest example of a pitcher getting hammered with a non-aluminum bat as I believed it to be germane to the discussion (plus interesting, terrible, and terrifying to watch).

I now return you to your regularly scheduled program.