Baseball bat - Aluminum, wood or?

Baseball pitchers are often hit by baseballs coming off the business end of a baseball bat. If the hitter is using an aluminum bat, pitchers should be extra careful.

Tests have shown that the ball can reach a higher speed off an aluminum bat — up to 160 kilometers per hour — than off a wooden bat.

There have been many incidents of pitchers getting seriously injured when they were hit by baseballs traveling at these speeds. Such incidents have aroused the concerns of baseball officials and legislators. Last summer, the New York state government passed legislation banning aluminum bats at the high school level. Some towns in New Jersey banned them for specific age groups. Recently, legislation has been filed in Pennsylvania’s general assembly to also ban the bats for use by youth players.

Despite this ban in some states, Little League refused to follow. They say that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is not convinced that there is enough evidence to support the idea that aluminum bats have become dangerous. Other leagues like the NCAA, the Pony League and the National High School Federation agree with the Little League.

Between 1991 and 2001, 17 players died due to batted balls, according to the CPSC. Of this number, aluminum bats were used in eight of the deaths, and wooden bats in two. There was no information what type of bat was used in the other cases.

A study in the American Sports Medicine Journal showed that major league pitchers have no more time to react to balls that travel at speeds beyond 155 kilometers/hour. That’s at over sixty and one-half feet away (regulation distance for the major leagues). Youth pitchers stand only 45 feet away.

The American College of Sports Medicine also found that only 2 percent of balls hit with wooden bats reached speeds of 160 kilometers/hour, but over one-third (37 percent) hit with metal bats did.

To minimize the dangers of balls hit by aluminum bats, some leagues are using safety balls. Instead of using hard balls which may become lethal when combined with aluminum bats, the safety balls make sure that players that are hit will not suffer great injury. The safety balls are made of a special kind of plastic that flexes when the ball hits a player.

Some groups oppose any ban on aluminum bats. They say the autonomy of Little League and other baseball organizations becomes compromised when legislators enact bans. It remains to be seen whether Pennsylvania will ban the bats, or leave it to the leagues.

The bottom line that every parent should be concerned about is, if you would have your kids play the game, make it safe for them.