Boy left deaf in one ear after line drive; family sues bat maker

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | 12/8/2010 | NATASHA KORECKI

[toma29]

It was just another Little League game.

The pitcher had just thrown two strikes. But when the next pitch was hurled, the batter smashed it and sent a line drive straight into the pitcher.

For 11-year-old Jake Schutter of Mokena, the moment forever changed his life.

Standing on the pitcher’s mound, the ball crashed into the left side of his head.

He dropped to the ground and began to vomit.

He later learned he would be permanently deaf in one ear. And his family is still unsure of the full extent of cognitive damage the incident caused, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court Tuesday.

Jake’s family blames not the batter, but the bat.

It was an Easton BT265, and most signficantly, it was metal.

[RobRoy]

>>I really am surprised that they don’t require all players in little league to wear helmets instead of just the batter and catcher.<<

Life is risk. And without risk there is no life.

One thing to consider here is that this is pretty rare, and wearing a helmet changes the playing experience for all players. So the question is, is is prudent to REQUIRE all the millions of players to wear helmets to spare the hearing of one kid every few years?

I say absolutely not.

[VRWCmember]

problem with wood was always that there wasn't enough QUALITY wood

Why do you think there are so many Viagra and Cialis commercials on TV!

[RobRoy]

My brother played a lot of shortstop in softball. He could also throw the ball harder than anyone I know (maybe that’s why he is pitching, still, on a baseball team). I was watching one of his games back in the early 70’s and he was getting very frustrated by the other team trying to break up double plays by the base runner coming to second with their hands up. And they had been warned several times.

So in the 6th inning there was a runner on first (the guy that kept raising his hands to break up the plays). A guy hit a hard grounder to the second baseman. He fired the ball to my brother as he tagged second base. Sure enough, the baserunner tried to block the throw to first. My brother fired the ball, as hard as he could, right into the guys gut.

They had to bring an ambulance on the field and take the guy away. He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword.

No, the guy didn’t die, and he even apologized for doing what he did, and my bro apologized for tagging him, but the guy stopped doing that.

[Fire_on_High]

Dear daddums, teach your stupid boy to catch, or duck, or failing either, man up.

[is_is]

Shame it wasn’t a wooden bat, then if it had cracked and the broken end flew out and hit him in the head they could have included God in the law suit for creating and growing a defective tree........

geeeezzzzz......

[Ironfocus]

My daughter plays travel fastpitch, and I have seen a lot more players get hit, both infielders and pitchers, in softball than I have in baseball. That is a result of both the hot bats and the coaches obsession of playing the corners in.

Even with the 98mph exit speed limit on softball bats it doesn’t seem to help, the ball still travels fast. I have also only seen the ASA officials check equipment twice, and once was because the bat was making a weird noise.

Kids getting hit is just the risk that they take when playing, but there should be some safety measures built in, as they are doing with bat restrictions. I’ve also seen rolled composite bats, and those are wicked.

And before anyone calls me a nanny-stater for wanting to restrict some of the equipment, go pick up a couple of bleeding kids with concussion and whiplash from the pitchers mound on a backboard, and then we talk again.

[Ironfocus]

My son already plays above his age group because he is big for his age (5’9” and 165lbs at age 12), and he has hit a few over the fence, using a cheapy alloy bat, not even a composite. If he line-drives the ball, there is very little time to react.

Our team’s pitcher got hit last season, also from a big kid hitting a line drive. Broken finger and a cut to the face...

In cricket they do specific drills with the bowler (the equivalent of baseball’s pitcher) to not get hit, and to take care of any line-drive opportunities that come their way. Maybe pitching coaches should start doing that as part of their pitching training.

[jesseam]

Hapapiness would be a world without trial lawyers or liberals, but I repeat myself.

[Talisker]

Hickory bats create certain, fixed speed responses by baseballs.

If it can't be hickory, then any other kind of bat should be locked into the same response limits.

If there are known, measurable, repeated injuries - especially with kids - from hot bats, then I do see a liability suit being justified, though probably against the baseball leagues and not the bat maker.

In any event, from the very first time I heard the "tink" of an aluminum bat I've hated them. Baseball bats should go "crack" - that's it.

Oh, and if any Coastie is reading this, foghorns should blow long and very low, not that modern sharp high-pitched crap. Jeez, wrecked the whole ocean with that one.

Hmmm, what else... don't even get me started on car warning beepers and idiot lights instead of blessed silence and real gauges...

And backup beepers on everything anymore, now that's another crime against peace...

[Scoutmaster]

Well, not being a power hitter when I played baseball and softball, my goal was to always hit a line drive right straight back at the pitcher. Assuming that he wasn't able to field it or knock it down, it was a guaranteed single and could usually score a runner from second base.

Heh. I wish I could have played with you, and hit behind you in the order.

I had no power, but could place the ball throughout high school. Unless there was a runner on, and I had to hit behind him, or unless the team was playing a shift, I was going one place: straight at the pitcher.

Ronnie Hilyer? If you're reading this now, I apologize, but I loved the two games I faced you my junior year. Eight at-bats. I hit you six times, plus a single up the middle, between your legs, and a line drive that nearly took your ear off. Eight for eight, buddy. Eight for eight. And you were BAILING with every pitch.