Player saftey, aluminum bats

[oreillywv]

Game: Marlins at Red Sox June 27.Marlins relief pitcher Kevin Olsen was injured when he was hit in the head by a line drive and suffered a concussion and received six stitches to his right ear.
Question: What if this was aluminum bat? The velocity probably would have been 10% higher with the possibility of killing Olsen.
HELP: I am compiling a survey on 4 Player Safety issues:[1] pitchers getting hit by batted balls; Head injuries by batters, despite "legal" helmets (Refer to Sammy Sosa's helmet exploding when he got hit);[3]wrecks at 1st base when runner,fielder and ball arrive at the same time (your opinion: would flap extension on 1st base help?)[4] wrecks at first base because runner does not use the 3-foot running lane. Please forward play situations involving any such incidents plus your views on the subjects. Thanks. Pat O'Reilly [email protected]

[Bfair]

Pat, I think back to when I was a kid and can't imagine how I made it through all those youth years without wearing a bicycle helmet (something obviously needed today---or so the legislators think). I'm also amazed at all the millions of others who came through it unscathed. Simply amazing by today's standards!!!

I think in all of sport that perhaps we should just merely go to video athletics. Of course, they'd soon be looking at video helmets to protect us from the potential injury we'd sustain when jumping from our seats after a win.

While safety is important, there will always be injuries for those who participate, and even at times for those who merely spectate. Somewhere the line needs to be drawn relative to the numbers participating vs. the numbers (and severity) of injuries. I'm just wondering if you've come across comparison figures of those participating vs. those seriously injured..........

Life is not without its risks...........



Freix

[GarthB]

Pat:

Any idea of the size of the total population this survey involves? What size sample, given your chosen means of selection, will you need to achieve a margin of error of +/-4%?

Since you are seeking unstructured annecdotal data, what confiednce factor can you assign to the results and how will you quantify the data for analysis?

Quite often each establishment in a sample is assigned a weight calculated as the inverse of the probability of sample selection; how will you weight the samples?

Or, are you just looking for stories for fun? It makes a difference in what I send you.

[DownTownTonyBrown]

You might want to do some internet research on particular injuries.

Ran into an interesting website that markets a protective facemask for players.

http://gameface.com/

The leading cause of facial injuries in children aged 5 - 15??? BASEBALL/SOFTBALL. Being the leading cause of facial injuries I would expect that it is also the leading cause of eye loss/blindness... maybe? I witnessed a beautiful young lady (20 years old) in a softball tournament that got hit in the eye with a batted ball and blinded... a frightful experience for me as I provided first aid. And surely a lot worse for her.

[greymule]

Six or seven years ago, I was leaving the park after umpiring and stopped to watch a youth league game. I don't know whether or not it was official Little League, but it appeared to be boys 10 to 12.

Every batter who came up was wrapped in a pad from his underarms to the top of the thighs. After that kid batted, the pad would be put on the next batter.

I asked the coach how he liked the pad, and he said he hated it. However, every once in a while, somewhere in the country, a kid around that age gets hit in the chest and his heart stops, so the league mandated the use of the pad.

The pad obviously constrained the kids' ability to swing the bat freely. Why play the game at all under those conditions? Why not use wiffle balls and plastic bats on a big soft mattress of a field? No running allowed. Any collision between two players on the field causes a stoppage of play and a checkup by a doctor to guard against any and all negative possibilities.

On the other hand, if it were my kid whose heart had been stopped by a pitch, I guess I might think differently.

You're right, Freix. How did we survive? No ear flaps in baseball. No bicycle helmets. And we got to shoot .22 rifles at summer camp. (Funny, to my knowledge not one of those campers ever grew up to shoot anyone.) One year in college I used a cap liner for a helmet. (It was legal then.)

Virtual baseball. Everybody has a joystick. Nobody gets hurt.