New York City has completely gone off the deep end. Its city council has done virtually nothing of note except look for new and interesting things to ban. The latest victim of the city’s rulers’ hatred of freedom is the common aluminum baseball bat. The city council voted Wednesday to ban the baseball bats, with enough votes to override a veto which had been promised by mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Councilors who voted for the measure painted it as a safety issue.
But opponents said that aside from anecdotal evidence, there was no actual scientific evidence that aluminum bats were any more dangerous than wooden bats.
Most interesting was how this proposal divided major league baseball players, with many voicing their support, and many others opposing the ban.
The measure bans the use of aluminum bats in high school baseball games. It was significantly narrowed from a previous measure also brought by freedom-hater James S. Oddo (R-Staten Island) which would have banned aluminum bats from virtually any baseball game anywhere in the city.
“I know this is not the most pressing issue on the minds of New Yorkers,” Mr. Oddo said shortly before the vote, “but I really believe in this bill. There is risk in all sports, and there is risk in baseball playing with a wooden bat, but when the risk becomes unreasonable, people have to act.”
City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, who rallied support for the measure among council members, added, “We think this is an appropriate safety step for us to protect our high school athletes.”
The bill passed by 40-6 with two abstentions. It would need 34 votes, two-thirds of the 51 members on the council, to override a veto.
Speaking before today’s vote, Mayor Bloomberg declined to say whether he would oppose the legislation.
“I have been called by professional baseball players, who are friends of mine, on both sides of the issue and I’ll look at the data and try to decide whether or not it’s an appropriate thing for the city to do, to get involved, and if so, what the science says,” Mr. Bloomberg said. — New York Times
Apparently, balls fly off aluminum bats faster than off wooden bats and kill unsuspecting children, or so critics of aluminum bats say.
Opponents of the bill, who included not only industry groups but Little League, say that’s preposterous.
“This unnecessary legislation clearly was not supported by factual data, and will ultimately harm the baseball programs of the city’s high schools,” Stephen D. Keener, president and chief executive officer of Little League Baseball and Softball, said in a statement after the vote.
“This is not a safety issue,” said Jim Darby, spokesman for Easton Sports, a leading bat maker based in Van Nuys, Calif. He added that his company and the industry would “look at all the different options out there” to block the legislation, including possible legal action.
In a statement after the vote, Mr. Darby added: “We are obviously disappointed with today’s vote, but we applaud the council members who recognized the facts and voted against this wrongheaded bill. We are hopeful that Mayor Bloomberg will also recognize that this ban will neither enhance safety nor improve the game of baseball and veto this bill.” — Ibid.
Little League players will still be able to use aluminum bats under the narrowed ban to develop their batting skills, which is more difficult with the heavier wooden bats.
What will New York City ban next?
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Tropical WeatherLast week, in the wake of another uptick in the official unemployment rate, the administration continued to claim that their economic policies were working, just not fast enough. Not only does the administration have a funny way of ending a war, but now they claim their economic policies are successful. For whom, I wonder?
Gardner Goldsmith teams up with Brett Veinotte, of the excellent School Sucks Project and the School Sucks podcast. Gard and Brett discuss the impetus of the series and project, and why public education must be stopped.
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Rob Miller
Mar 15, 2007
Aluminium bats are certainly less effective weapons than wooden ones, so I doubt it’s about their use as weapons… still inane and pointless legislation, though.
Slim
Mar 15, 2007
The next ban should be all cats because they could scratch a child and that wound may become infected. After that ban they need to enact a ban on the plague and rats that may carry the plague to keep everyone safe.
Mar 15, 2007
BLOGical Thoughts » Thursday, 15 March, 2007
K
Mar 15, 2007
They could ban wooden ones too someone might get a splinter.
ig
Mar 15, 2007
They need to ban ALL bats, particularly the flying rodent variety. They can spread rabies, y’know. Oh, and Batman … really bad influence on the kids, so it’s high time they banned Batman comics too.
Dissent
Mar 15, 2007
I wonder if the city council can get the Dodgers to come back to Brooklyn. After almost 50 years, some of us are starting to lose hope….
Brian
Mar 15, 2007
I think they should ban wooden spoons. My Mother beat the hell out of me and my brother with wooden spoons when we acted like idiots.
Verbos
Mar 15, 2007
Better look and see what else they are up to while all of you are distracted.
Johnny B
Mar 19, 2007
New York City politicians use their time on the most stupidest idiotic things. They devote their time to bs when they can be making better laws for criminals and child molestors. All NY politicians are nothing but crooked criminals. They should all be ashamed of themselves and should just jump off a bridge or something. If you don’t live in NY then come out and see. See how many potholes there are in the streets and how overcrowded the school systems are here. Bunch of jackasses like Bloomberg runs the town. How the hell did Bloomberg become a mayor? He wasn’t even a New Yorker. Buncha pansies.
Q
Mar 21, 2007
every day we move closer and closer to the future depicted in “demolition man” where everything thats can possibly hurt you is banned.
Carola Von H.
Mar 25, 2007
Some other things that need to be banned in NYC:
1) Hammers: they can hit thumbs
2) Duct tape: it can bind crime victims
3) Plastic bags: they can smother children
4) Politicians: they can smother everyone
Anonymous
Mar 27, 2007
I can see why these bays are being banned. Xaverian High School played Xavier High School in a scrimmage on Tuesday, March 27th and a pitcher on Xavier got rocked in the head by a line drive in the 3rd inning. The pitcher had absolutely no time to react, he was hit and immedietely hit the floor and was bleeding from the head. He ended up walking off after several minutes but was taken to the hospital.
tourmarm
Mar 28, 2007
Now if they could 0nly ban metal tennis racquets and we can get back to old fashioned tennis…
joe
Mar 28, 2007
they should ban stupid, useless, i have nothing better to do bans
Mizike
Apr 03, 2007
I feel that yes the bats should be banned! i play on a high school team and am being scouted right now by some colleges. i feel that the balls r just simply coming to fast. yes its easy to say y doint we get rid of the game in general becasue someone can be hit with a ball. Well the fast is the balls havent changed! When im playin thrid base and some huge monster creams the ball, its like im trying to field a rocket thats been fired at me.
Apr 18, 2007
>bt: Nanny State Hypocrites
bill
Apr 19, 2007
Mizike,
you are a pussy. Stop playing baseball.
Francis Urquhart
Apr 19, 2007
Mizike,
Learn proper English grammar, spelling, and writing skills. You won’t be able to pass NCAA academic requirements even if you do get recruited to a college.
Chris
Apr 19, 2007
Maybe they should have thought about taking metal bats out of NCAA baseball before they decided to get them out of high schools. Basically they are saying:
Little League: Metal is great!
High School: Metal is the work of Satan!
College: Wood is the work of Satan!
This is a completely logical thought process.
On the other hand, when I pitched in college I never left the ball over the plate since I was hit with scorching comebackers on several occasions. Also, most college summer leagues I played in used wood since you are draft eligible and scout worthy and it’s played by MLB rules (Worthy point of note: those leagues are in and around NYC, almost anytime I played at that level elsewhere it was metal bat.)
30 year coach
Apr 23, 2007
Good for New York City Council. Not only is wood safer, but it makes for better hitters. Smaller sweet spot. ANy who is against the ban is either extremely ignorant or has too much stock in Alcoa!!!
Seth
Apr 23, 2007
Just how many more 1000ths of a second will a fielder receive to move his body out of the way of a hard hit ball when wood is used vs metal???
How many more trees will need to be chopped down for all of the overly-breakable wood bats??? And some people are enthusiastically pushing for us to use just one sheet of toilet paper per trip to the john!!!
During state playoff games, teams from outside New York will rightfully refuse to play away games (in the city) to avoid the risk of breaking the wood-bat-only law.
Seth
Apr 23, 2007
Oh, under the subject of equality, have aluminum bats also been made illegal for high school girls softball? Or do I smell some old fashioned discrimination?
DR
Apr 23, 2007
Ban concrete. That’s dangerous stuff. All hard and rough, just waiting for someone to slip and fall. Have you ever seen what concrete does to knees? It’s terrifying!
Actually, just ban these clowns on the council from entering the building. They’re a waste of tax dollars. And Mizike: try soccer.
Both Sides Examined
Apr 24, 2007
(Page 1 of 4)MILES CITY, Mont., April 22, 2005
——————————————————————————–
(AP)
Quote
“Aluminum bats have changed the game of baseball.”
Rob Bishop, coach,
Miles City Junior College Pioneers
——————————————————————————–
(Christian Science Monitor) This article was written by Todd Wilkinson.
——————————————————————————–
“It was a sweet, beautiful night for baseball.”
That’s how Spud and Debbie Patch remember the final moments of their son’s life on the mound — right up to a jarring and fatal ping.
On July 25, 2003, 18-year-old Brandon Patch, a southpaw pitcher for the Miles City Mavericks American Legion team, was killed after a line drive rocketed off an aluminum bat and struck him in the head.
Now, almost two years later and in an attempt to prevent future tragedies, his parents and others are on a crusade to see the national pastime, at all levels, revert to wood bats.
This week, the Patches watched Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer sign an unprecedented resolution calling upon American Legion baseball, with its thousands of teams nationally to adopt wood bats out of concern that aluminum counterparts propel balls at dangerous speeds.
“We have a responsibility to protect our young people in their sports endeavors,” says Governor Schweitzer. “Sometimes, common sense solutions have to come from an unlikely place like Montana.”
The debate over aluminum has raged for a generation in bleacher seats on four continents. Grass-roots campaigns to ban aluminum at local levels have advanced in, among other places, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York City, California, and Florida.
Yet Montana’s action, inspired by these working-class parents from a dusty cowboy town, is the first time a state has officially taken a stand.
Since their invention in the 1970s as a durable replacements for breakable lumber, aluminum bats have supplanted wood almost entirely in youth baseball. More than 4.1 million are made in the United States each year and commonly retail for upward of $350 apiece.
Following their son’s death, and those of dozens of other players they say have been killed or hurt in several states over the past decade, the Patches felt compelled to become activists. Spud, a grocery store meat cutter, and Debbie, who operates a tanning salon, went to the state legislature after being rebuffed by American Legion officials, who said the indictment against aluminum was unwarranted.
“One gentleman told me we would never see the abolition of aluminum bats in his lifetime,” Mrs. Patch says. “I told him maybe not in his lifetime, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen in mine.”
dumbfounded
Apr 24, 2007
While it is always tragic when an accident occurs, I just don’t see the proof where the aluminum bats create such a threat that they need to be banned.
In any sport, risk of injury is always there. These severe injuries and deaths while extremely tragic, are not the norm. Composite bats are very hot and yes the ball does seem to come off them more quickly. The laws should be designed by age as to what is the proper manufacturing by designing more clear cut exit speed ratio standards and minus weights by age or the level of play. They should then follow through with enforcing the policies. How often do you even see an umpire check to see if a player’s bat is legal.
For example, if you play Little League, the bat needs to have the Little League approval stamp only. In Little League tournament play, there are very strict guidelines about the size of bat that is allowed in a particular age group. I highly doubt that the local, smaller chapter heads bother to even check if the players bats are legal for their age group.
Small kids that are in the age group of 9 and 10 should be able to use up to a -12 bat. 11-12 year olds should be able to go as high as say -9. After that it should be -3 for everyone.
I know in Girls fastpitch softball which, uses aluminum bats the bats are only legal if they have an exit speed of 98MPH or less. When Louisville Slugger’s number 1 selling bat went over the standard by .2 last year, they pulled the bats and re-manufactured and replaced all the bats that did not meet the standard upon request.
If the various leagues would come together to set and agree upon universal bat standards by age, that would alleviate part of the problem.
I hope for the sake of the recruitable kids that this not happen, as they will be at a great disadvantage in obtaining college scholarships
john m
May 07, 2007
I Agree with the Ban!
If youngsters used wooden bats, the excess weigh of the wood would increase their strength and coordination. The MLB players they emulate use wood which makes the entire experience more realistic, making them feel like they are playing like the pros. Aluminum bats are easier to swing and thus allows the ball to increase in speed by 1 1/2 timess the wooden bat.
sir_flexalot
May 10, 2007
At every batting cage I’ve been to, they won’t let you use wooden bats because they can splinter and cause injury, jam up the automatic ball feeder, mess up the special balls it shoots, etc. So what the hell am I supposed to use there now? my foot?
Anonymus
May 13, 2007
I got hit in the head my a line drive off a metal bat right by the corner of my eye, and I still use metal bats. If everyone would use wood bats I’d be okay with it, but since some are using wood, some metal I’ll use metal.
Anonymous
Jun 17, 2007
Mizike,
You probably wouldn’t be recruited if you were using a wood bat.
Jake
Jun 18, 2007
I have coached youth baseball at the competitive (travel team) level for 15 years. Prior to that, I played minor league ball Anyone that says these new composite and aluminum bats are not more lively and dangerous than a wooden bat either knows NOTHING about the real game of baseball or they are beholden to the industry (ala Mike “slide me 100 grand” Musina). It is absolutely disgusting to see what these $400 bats are doing to the game at the Youth and College level. If there really is no difference between the 2 technologies, show me a SINGLE player that uses a wooden bat when he has the option for aluminum/composite technology. Ban them all NOW. Start playing real baseball (no more check swing fly balls to the warning track).
SafetyOverEgo's
Aug 07, 2007
What is the point of using aluminum bats in youth leagues / high school/college if all of the MLB uses wood? Isn’t it just another way of “faking” what you can really do? If a kid using a wood bat can’t get the ball past the infield, but gets it to the wall w/aluminum, does that make him a better hitter? No. It’s just makes him feel like he is. I’d rather have my kid play with what the big leagues are playing with if that’s what he aspires to. You cannot justify risking critical injury to infielders just so you can falsely hype up some mediocre batters ego. Aluminum bats are wooden bats on steroids. It’s not real baseball!
There’s are reason they don’t allow them in MLB, folks.
you would like to no
Aug 22, 2007
Mizike you prolly blow at baseball and wish you could play at college but your prolly not going to. Now me i am really getting looked at by colleges and yeah the metal bats do make the ball go furtherand faster and everything but see i can hit one out wit a wooden or aluminum so it really doesnt matter to me.
Jim
Sep 02, 2007
I have played my whole life using both wood and aluminum bats and there is a huge difference. I am now a coach for my 9 year old son, we recently played a tournament where opposing teams were using the new Combat composit bat. After 2 check swings that went to the warning track(I remind you these kids are 9)I had the bat checked and was shocked to find out that the bat was approved by little league. The ball was jumping off the bat so fast that I backed my kids up when a player came to the plate with that bat, for there safety. And no my team does not stink. We have won a couple of championships already at this young age. After watching the 2007 little league world series, many of the 12/13 year olds were using this bat along with other dangerous bats with a 46ft mound, which is down right scary. I applaud NYC for the ban and hopefully others will follow. If you are against the ban you either do not have a kid that play’s or pitches or you yourself know nothing about the game and have not played the sport at a highly competative level. Think about it, the people who are attempting to ban these bats are the parents who’s kids died by rockets to the head, hit off one of these bats. The so called experts who do these studies say that there is no proof that the ball jumps off the bat faster than wood. They have got to be kidding. Ban them now. For the safety of the kids.
Leon
Oct 26, 2007
yeah, I think wooden bats are actually more dangerous than metal bats because they break more easily. This puts everyone in danger, not just the pitcher. The city council should have voted to have the pitcher wear protective head gear, so of like the catcher, but hey, everything has its drawbacks.
Derek
Oct 30, 2007
I agree with leon even though i like using wooden bats myself just for the fill that they have.But also now there are composite wood bats that are getting close to what metal bats are.
Phil
Nov 08, 2007
Mizike- grow up, stop crying, and get over it. If the ball is coming too fast, then you need to change sports. And if you think the ball comes too fast in high school, you have no chance of playing in college, I’m playing D1 ball now.
you would like to no- stop bragging. no one wants to hear it. and if you have to brag on one of these things to make yourself feel good, then you’re probably just as bad as Mizike.
The ban is for the good. why play with aluminum all the way up to the pros when the pros don’t use aluminum. The game is not played the way it should be. Hitters shouldn’t be able to hit one off their fists and get a bloop single over the second baseman. With wood, the bat cracks and they hit a dribbler. Make the hitters earn their hits. I’m sick of players getting a hit with just contact. Playing with wood is the way the game was intended to be played.
old ball player
Jan 16, 2008
Baseball is a very dynamic sport. I played baseball as a kid. I played fast pitch softball as an adult. I have seen serious injuries from both wooden and aluminum bats. For a critical injury to occur many things must coincide. The speed of the ball along with the point of impact and the density of the bone structure etc. If we consider shaken baby syndrome; any head injury is serious and banning aluminum or composite bats will only have a very limited effect. I still would use wooden bats for baseball if I were still playing because I like the feel of them but I know that banning aluminum bats will not make injuries go away. Adjusting the bat drop might help manage the larger, stronger 12 year-olds in Little League but at the same time would punish the boys that have not gotten their growth spurt yet. It all comes down to common sense. I see some Little League coaches in minors and majors send the third/first baseman charging in if the coach thinks a bunt is coming. That dynamic in place makes it easier for the chain of events to lead to injury. All players should be taught as part of their fielding to get into the proper defensive stance after delivery. I fractured my front teeth catching fast pitch softball in warmups because I did not have my catcher’s mask on. Why? All the dynamics coincided. A rock was just in front of the plate. The pitch was pitched perfectly to make the ball skip up at a high angle and I was not wearing the mask. Dynamics… I played third and got rocked by hits from both wooden and aluminum bats (all when I was cheating a couple of steps) but I still have no problem with any bat materials. Cleaning the whole house with bleach to kill germs does not allow us to develop imunities. Pulling aluminum bats from the game does nothing for the real problem – developing proper defensive techniques and reaction time. If you can remove one dynamic then the accident usually doesn’t happen. Remove the wrong dynamic and you leave the equation in tact. Teach them to be in correct position, be quick, pay attention and ALWAYS expect the ball to be drilled to you.
Will (ex little lgr)
Feb 21, 2008
Just because of a few rare occurrences, they feel metal bats are the enemy? It couldn’t possibly be athletic kids, could it? Why not ban cars too? Cars have killed kids before. If we do that, then ban schools, because kids have died at school too. Ban pregnancies while we’re at it, kids die during childbirth, so the only way to prevent children from dying during childbirth is to ban childbirth altogether.
robert
Mar 29, 2010
Yeah go NYC NO ALUMINUM BATS! WHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!