The Rant

Bat companies such as Easton and Louisville Slugger want you to buy there $350 aluminum bats no matter the danger. As long as aluminum bats are not banned they will still make them, still try to improve them, and still try to make more money. It will seriously take a rapid increase in injuries and deaths before someone high in power stands up and puts their foot down. But why let it get to that point where kids a dying and getting seriously injuried? At this rate the speed off the bat will easily begin to eclipse a point in which a normal person will have only microseconds to react. kids have been sent into comas, left with brain damage, and ultimately die a slow painful death just from playing a game that they love. Personally I've been hit three times in my life, twice off of aluminum and once off a wooden bat, and all three times were in the leg. The two times off of the aluminum bat I was hit in the portion of my legthat didn't cause as much pain and the ball off of the wooden bat hit me square in the shin. I can only imagine the pain that comes with getting a ball hit off of your face. Hopefully bat companies step up to the plate sooner rather than latter and try and fix what can potentially be a more deadly sport than football, which is a full contact sport.

What do the "Experts" say?

This topic is a very broad one and there are not many "experts" on the subject but there are one or two who have spent many years in the field of baseball and bat-making who know what they are talking about.

“This is the kind of technology you ought to be throwing at Bin Laden, not some baseball pitcher. We’ve over-engineered it. It’s the worst thing I ever did. Aluminum bats and wood bats are not even in the same ballpark.” Jack McKay, an Aluminum bat designer who was once hired by Louisville slugger to help advance the bat and make it into what it has become. This ties into my topic because Jack McKay is one of the main reasons this arguement is taking place.

“It’s obvious that the metal bats, if they keep improving the technology, became pretty dangerous. If you had a big-leaguer like Mark McGuire swinging one of those things, they could kill somebody.” Ric Lessman, Washington University head baseball coach. This shows that an alumin bat can be a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands (or right hands if its a wooden bat and the player is an absolue BEAST).

“We’ve eliminated metal spikes, the on-deck circle, and the headfirst slide. We’ve required emergency plans and recommended different balls, face masks, breakaway bases.” Dr. Barry Goldberg, a member of Little League’s National Board of Directors and the Director of Sports Medicine at Yale University Health Services. He is trying to show that there have been strides in safety and that it is still a work in progress. (Add 100 lbs and you get the

all time HR Record Holder)

My second arguement

Aluminum bats have been completely overdeveloped. Aluminum bats started out as an alternative to wood bats breaking constantly and were made more like wooden bats. Over the years companies have kept looking for a way to make advancements in the ways the bats were made and a way to make more mo

ney. In trying to do this companies have begun using more high-tech metals and are now at the point that some of the bats are so advanced that the metals they use are the same metals used to make planes and other things of that natur

e.

Strongest Arguement

My strongest arguement against aluminum bats is that they cause more injuries. Although studies have come up inconclusive for lack of evidence but the numbers that they do have is overwhelming in favor of of the point that aluminum causes more injuries than wood. The fact the the sweet spot is huge on an aluminum bat compared to a wood one and also the fact that the balls comes off of the aluminum bat with so much more speed. The faster the ball is hit the harder it is to react to the ball for a player and mainly for the pitcher. Personally i have gotten hit with three batted balls, two off aluminum and one off of a wooden bat, all of which hit my shin-calf area and they all seemed to be just as fast. That may have been due to the fact that the aluminum batted balls occurred in 8th and 9th grade and the ball off the wooden bat occured in 10th.

My Arguement

Although I would rather use aluminum bats there is no doubt in my mind that wooden bats are safer. The biggest aruments that can be made is that a wooden bat being solid the ball does not jump off the bat as fast as it does an aluminum bat and more injuries have been caused from a ball hit off of an aluminum bat. The statistics and studies really speak for themselves so conving a reader will not be that hard. The only problem that I see in trying to convince readers of the postition is that some information says that there is no more danger in using an aluminum bat than a wooden bat.

CON Aluminum Bats

Aluminum bats entered hands of players about 30 years ago as an answer to non-pro players not having to buy new wooden bats every time one broke. When they were first introduced however the bats were not as light, were more dense and did not generate as much bat speed. Over the years Aluminum bats have been over developed and now use high tech metals that are much lighter, which helps generate greater bat speed, and sends the ball off of the bat at a much greater speed than wood bats. When a ball is hit at a greater velocity it gives the fielders and especially the pitcher less time to react and putting them in danger of serious danger.

PRO Aluminum bats

Many people that are against the ban of aluminum bats take the stance that there is no evidence that a ball hit off of an aluminum bat causes more injuries than a wood bats. Although injuries have happened when a ball has come off of an aluminum bat there has also been injuries that have occured when a ball is hit with a wooden bat and even though the aluminum bat percentage of injury may be a tad higher there is not enough evidence to determine if they are more dangerous. The other argument made is that aluminum bats do not break and although they cost more they last for years and do not need to be replaced as often as wooden bats.