Send in the lawyers.
 

Here is an interesting article: A New York Mets fan is filing suit against the MLB, the New York Mets, the bat maker., Mets second baseman Luis Castillo, and ex-Met Ramon Castro after his face was shattered by a broken bat during an - WPIX

MTD, Sr.

Funny, but every ticket that I ever purchased for a MLB game stated that I was accepting the seat at my own risk!

Yes, but that "contract" means nothing if you can prove negligence.

I don't think this guy has a case, though.

These bats are know to shatter into some nasty, pointy shards. It's only a matter of time until a player gets seriously injured (I'm thinking impaled). MLB knows this and is taking a risk by doing nothing about it.

I am of the opinion that MLB will eventually be forced to modify or outlaw the maple bats.

Players like them so that certainly won't slip past the players union, competition committee (or whatever they call it in MLB), or any of those groups that have to agree before rules are changed.

Assuming MLB would want these bats outlawed, it may welcome this lawsuit. It would allow the ban to occur regardless of what other entities may feel.

That's not to say that MLB wants these bats outlawed; just hypothesizing.

He will walk away with a boat load of money.

Most likely!

I believe in NY State, no matter what they print on the ticket or how many times they say it not their fault, a person still has the right to sue.

You can sue anybody for anything anywhere. Doesn't mean you'll win. Doesn't mean it won't get thrown out of court.

There is a severe problem with the supply of ash for the traditional bats. It is caused by the emerald ash borer, a beetle that has killed millions of ash trees nationwide. It has already cost the forestry industry billions of dollars, and can easily imperil the wood bat industry. It is believed to have arrived in the United States on solid wood packing material in Asian cargo ships or airplanes.

Using maple helps relieve that potential shortage of quality ash. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

This is an interesting topic. What's happened to bats over the years is that loaded the weight toward the business end and taken it from the handle making the bats more likely to shatter. We took a tour of the Louisville Bat Factory last year and it's amazing how much thicker the bat handles were not even 20 years ago versus today.

What's more interesting is that there is another bat technology out there called Radial bats. They are constructed from 12 wedges pressed together in a block then lathed like a traditional bat. They are supposedly guaranteed not to shatter if they break. The owner/inventor has been petitioning MLB to test/approve his design but so far no luck.

Haven't a couple of umpires been cut/hit with broken bats recently (i.e., within the last couple of years)?

MLB has already taken unilateral action in regards to Mape in the minor leagues and the major league Players Union is a partner in the study MLB began in 2008 in which over 2200 broken bats and every cracked bat from 2009 were collected and studied.

Already results have been seen...there were 30% fewer broken maple bats in 2009 than in 2008.

From MLB:

"This spring, MLB put into place new, more stringent regulations that banned several types of maple bats in the Minor Leagues. As part of the new rules, restrictions have been placed on the density of sugar maple that can be used to manufacture Minor League bats. In addition, bats made out of several types of maple will be completely eliminated by the companies approved to make bats, meaning the bat makers must use North American sugar maple.

"What has been negotiated between MLB and the union and approved for the Majors is the inspection of maple bats, none of which can be painted all black so that the grain can be more easily inspected; bats with a lower density than .0219 pounds per square inch are not allowed, and any new players to the Majors as well as all Minor Leaguers cannot use bats lower than .024 pounds per inch; the barrel of all bats was reduced from 2.75 to 2.61 inches in diameter; any player who breaks 10 bats in a season must meet with a panel of experts to discuss possible reasons; and red and silver maple have been eliminated as materials used to make bats."

Additionally, both MLB and the players union have stated that further limitations on maple bats will be part of the negotiations for the new contract.

This shouldn't go very far. But.... in today's system, who knows!

He may have patented a version of this process, but the Brett Bros. Bat company also owns a patent for this process and bat. They have applied to MLB for approval every year since 1998. They finally succeeded in getting approved for experimentation at the low minors.

Not likely.

There is a precedent court case; from NY iirc, and maybe even involving the Mets [I'm too lazy to get out my Torts text and look it up]; to the effect that getting hit by flying objects is a known and accepted hazard of attending a BB game, and by the doctrine of "assumption of risk", no love for the earstwhile plaintiff.