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Should MLB Ban Maple Bats?
None | 03 23 10 | Notoriously Conservative

Posted on 03/23/2010 12:13:45 PM PDT by Notoriously Conservative

With all the recent news about injuries related to splintering maple baseball bats, do you think the MLB should ban them? Yes or no, and why? I'd be interetested to hear your thoughts.


TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: baseball; bat; maple
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To: Notoriously Conservative

Ban aluminum bats


41 posted on 03/23/2010 12:54:31 PM PDT by wordsofearnest (Job 19:25 As for me, I know my Redeemer lives.)
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To: SnakeDoctor

You actually bring up a good point with that photo in that maple bats CAN BE LESS LIKELY to splinter, depending upon where the break is. I’ve heard the MORE LIKELY to spliter argument more commonly, but I beleive the capacity to injure is far less of a function of splintering and far more of a function of weight and the resulting ability to travel longer distances.


42 posted on 03/23/2010 12:58:29 PM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: Notoriously Conservative

Yes. Ash worked fine for the first 140 years.


43 posted on 03/23/2010 1:00:14 PM PDT by Jack Black ( Whatever is left of American patriotism is now identical with counter-revolution.)
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To: Vigilanteman

I would agree. I think you get less shattering from a Maple bat ... but you’re going to get larger pieces that fly farther, and are more likely to maim.

If an Ash bat splinters/ shatters into a dozen pieces ... none of them are going to have any weight at all, and none are going to fly very far.

If a maple bat splits into two pieces along the grain of the bat (like in the picture), the head of the bat will have some mass to it, may go significantly farther into the infield, and will have a blade-like end that could cause more injury.

SnakeDoc


44 posted on 03/23/2010 1:02:10 PM PDT by SnakeDoctor ("The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant ... that even a god-king can bleed." - 300)
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To: Notoriously Conservative

And you would replace them with what????


45 posted on 03/23/2010 1:07:10 PM PDT by the long march
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To: Notoriously Conservative

On behalf of Mariano Rivera, I say yes. He’ll be breaking them long after he gets too old to jump out of the way.


46 posted on 03/23/2010 1:10:07 PM PDT by FelixFelicis
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To: Notoriously Conservative

If they don’t they should most certainly do it because if they don’t the healthcare costs will skyrocket, think of the health care system.


47 posted on 03/23/2010 1:12:50 PM PDT by GraceG
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To: vladimir998

Trade in my Louisville Slugger for aluminum!

They can’t be serious. You’re right then only liberals and other criminals will have them. Another black-market industry, like guns.


48 posted on 03/23/2010 1:36:19 PM PDT by K-oneTexas (I'm not a judge and there ain't enough of me to be a jury. (Zell Miller, A National Party No More))
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To: SnakeDoctor
It would be interesting to see the data on where bats break with the resulting splintering. Part of what gives maple the mass is the resin or sap in the natural tree.

I'd be willing to bet that the root cause of splintering is more of a function of inadequate or uneven drying than in the type of wood itself, though the natural saps would, of course, contribute to the functions of wood aging.

I remember seeing a progrqam on how they made the famed Louisville sluggers as a boy-- major care put into selecting the wood and aging it properly. Just knowing how companies think today on keeping low inventories and rushing products through the market, I'm almost certain nowhere near the same care is put into making the modern bat, maple, ash or hickory notwithstanding.

49 posted on 03/23/2010 1:39:26 PM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: Notoriously Conservative

Metal bats that are subject to performance limiting specifications is the way to go.

Reduces costs and would enhance safety.

If NASCAR can limit the performance of cars for safety reasonn certainly the same can be done for baseball.


50 posted on 03/23/2010 1:41:36 PM PDT by SeaHawkFan
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To: Brookhaven
I’m not sure if I should take this seriously or not, but... Having grown up in an era when EVERYONE used wooden bats, I can tell you flat out that metal bats are significantly more dangerous than wood ones. Which is worse?

I think the issue here is traditional hickory versus maple.

51 posted on 03/23/2010 1:42:18 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: Vigilanteman

My understanding is that maple bats tend to break along the grain, and ash bats tend to break at the handle.

I would think that the type of breakage has a lot to do with the hardness of the underlying wood. Hard maple bats don’t break all the way through, they break at weak-points along the grain; softer ash bats break all the way through at the weakest point on the bat (the handle).

SnakeDoc


52 posted on 03/23/2010 1:44:51 PM PDT by SnakeDoctor ("The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant ... that even a god-king can bleed." - 300)
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To: Osage Orange
Maybe. But this thread isn't about baseball. It's about baseball bats.
53 posted on 03/23/2010 2:02:31 PM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: Moonman62

Hickory or white ash?


54 posted on 03/23/2010 2:11:26 PM PDT by macrahanish #1
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Photobucket
55 posted on 03/23/2010 2:15:03 PM PDT by rfp1234
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To: Vigilanteman
Oh...I see.

Gay's, have a lot in common with baseball bats.

I dunno why I didn't see that....

LOL!!

56 posted on 03/23/2010 2:53:01 PM PDT by Osage Orange (A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity. - Sigmund Freud)
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To: GraceG; Notoriously Conservative; writer33

Inspired by GraceG, I direct your attention to clause 83675.47 subparagraph Z.45(c)3 of the new Obamacare bill that clearly gives authority over the issue of baseball bats to the death panel as authorized in Section 1233.


57 posted on 03/23/2010 3:52:05 PM PDT by NonValueAdded ("Shut it down" Rush Limbaugh, 3/3/10)
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To: Hot Tabasco
If Maple bats are indeed splintering and MLB wants to encourage the long ball then I would suggest a compromise. Ban the Maple bats and legalize corking.........problem solved.

Sammy Sosa was just ahead of the times........LOL!

Don't you mean George Brett?


58 posted on 03/23/2010 5:57:05 PM PDT by GreenLanternCorps ("Barack Obama" is Swahili for "Jimmy Carter".)
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To: Hot Tabasco

Oops, I was getting corking and pine tar confused...


59 posted on 03/23/2010 5:57:57 PM PDT by GreenLanternCorps ("Barack Obama" is Swahili for "Jimmy Carter".)
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