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Alderman Bob Fioretti (2nd) introduced an ordinance yesterday that would ban metal bats from youth baseball within city limits. Metal softball bats would still be allowed under the proposed law, which would apply to players 8–18 years old.
According to Fioretti, "This is an issue where children are harmed…This is an issue of protecting our young people and bringing them back to our old pastime of baseball and wooden bats." New York City recently adopted a similar rule, and according to one city councilman there, "none of the metal bat industry’s dire predictions have come true" during the first year of wooden-bat games.
At least one study found "no statistically significant evidence that non-wood bats result in an increased evidence of severity of injury" in 2007, and the Consumer Safety Commission says metal bats aren't more dangerous than wooden ones. [S-T]
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Hey Alderman, if you really have nothing better to do, I have some leaves that need to be raked.
Fact? Studies? No, we need panicked emotional response to outliers incidents!
I heard a kid once broke his hand wanking. Expect a ban on jergens lotion and pornography very soon.
Albany: was the kid from New York?
There are a lot of thuggy teens in my neighborhood who like to carry around metal bats too. I don't think they're playing America's pastime though...
Yet our city leaders still refuse to investigate the CTA; conduct oversight of TIFs; more seriously question hiring practices; offer any strong ideas about how to counter the rising crime rates ...
I heard a kid once broke his hand wanking. Expect a ban on jergens lotion and pornography very soon.
Pretty much sums up local government. Except for the hire my cousin part.
This IS city business. The kids killed by metal bats of today are the non-revenue generating parking meter violators of tomorrow...
Nanny state strikes again. I warned people that more stuff like this would happen once they banned smoking.....
Not sure how I feel about this. We used metal bats as kids with no problems and I am unaware of the technology used in today's little league bats. I do play softball though and if the little league bats are anything like the softball bats they make today especially the illegal according to ASA rules ones with double walls and triple flex and composite technology it could be a serious problem because the ball flies off those bats at speeds that are truly unsafe, a problem that would not have existed until recently. Is anyone aware of what types of metal bats are allowed in little league currently are they actually dangerous? I think this can easily be regulated by a body other than the city council. Metal bats are not a problem if they are not overdone and they can be approved by little league or some other body the city council would be just in looking into it and pushing relevant organizations to properly regulate this area short of banning all metal bats. Metal bats make the game a lot more fun most kids because they are lighter and not every kid can swing a wood bat well.
More dopiness from our high-paid, do-nothing aldermen.
I agree that they should go back to wooden bats, but that's not an issue for the Daley bootlickers in the City Council.
hmmm...january-june 291 murders or kids playing baseball with metal bats..glad to see the city council choosing to tackle the important, tough issues
So NY didn't listen to the "metal bat industry’s dire predictions"? Isn't this how Rome fell, people?
Notwithstanding the various studies showing that wooden bats are no safer than metal ones, wooden bats generally are more expensive than metal bats and they need to be replaced more often. Baseball is already a very expensive sport for parents/youth leagues to handle; this expense is one of the reasons for the decline in youth baseball compared to basketball and soccer. This ban certainly won't help with that, but as long as the people in charge can argue "AS LOOOONG AS ONE CHILD IS SAVED OMGGGGG, IT'S WORTH IT!!!1", despite all statistical evidence to the contrary it will probably become law by Jan 1, 2010.
Wooden bats are just a stop-gap. Ultimately, it's NERF or nothing!
Notwithstanding the various studies showing that wooden bats are no safer than metal ones,
A ball comes off a metal bat a lot faster than a wooden one. All of the date that states there's no difference were conducted with balls thrown from pitching machines to STATIONARY bats. When the bat is in motion, big difference.
outlaw cleats too while you're at it. we don't want those little buggers coming into second base with their spikes up high!
/Ty Cobb
That's not to say that the City Council should be dealing with this issue. is this why they cut the number of bootable parking tickets from three to two? to generate more revenue for this?
A ball comes off a metal bat a lot faster than a wooden one. All of the date that states there's no difference were conducted with balls thrown from pitching machines to STATIONARY bats. When the bat is in motion, big difference.
That's true, one can swing an metal bat much faster than a wooden one, especially the specially weighted ones, and that leads to a higher risk of injury from batted balls. However, this difference in the speed of the batted ball is largely negated by the fact that metal bats tend not to disintegrate/crack in half, sending debris all over the infield. The injury risk is the same between wooden and metal bats, but the sources of these injuries are not.
The best solution to protect kids from all this debris is a facemask for pitchers and possibly the corner infielders, especially since Little League diamonds are so small. But that's not cheap either...