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Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Maple bats won’t be banned by Major League Baseball

After a season in which jagged chunks of broken maple bats flew across the infield and into the stands in epidemic proportions, Major League Baseball will announce Tuesday that it will not ban the bats.

Instead, after consultation with foresters and bat manufacturers, baseball will adopt rules that enable players to use whatever grain of wood they like—maple included—but will provide specifications for bat design intended to minimize the number of bats that break.

Representatives from bat manufacturers are scheduled to meet with MLB officials this afternoon in Las Vegas, in advance of tomorrow’s announcement. The announcement was confirmed by two sources informed of the decision but not authorized to speak in advance.

Batter, batter batter batter!

Gamingboy Posted: December 09, 2008 at 11:18 AM | 7 comment(s)
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1. Dewey, Local Boy and Soupuss Posted: December 09, 2008 at 11:12 AM (#3023828)

Three questions, not that anyone here will be able to answer them -

(1) What sort of "specifications" will be put in place?

(2) Is this going to actually force anyone to use a different model bat next year?

(3) Is this going to be enforced at all?

I would be willing to bet that the answer to either (2) or (3) will be "no".

2. aleskel

Posted: December 09, 2008 at 11:20 AM (#3023839)

(1) What sort of "specifications" will be put in place?

On top of the normal weight-to-length requirements, handle-to-barrel width ratio, I imagine.

3. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Griffin (Vlad) Posted: December 09, 2008 at 11:45 AM (#3023884)

Good. Outright banning maple would be untenable in a few years, given the spread of the emerald ash borer. Bat dimension restrictions make a lot more sense, and there's already precedent for them (in the ban on corked bats and laminate composite bats and such).

4. John DiFool2 Posted: December 09, 2008 at 11:50 AM (#3023895)

Murphy's Law would suggest that someone (infielder, fan, ump) will eventually get impaled by a flying shard of wood.

5. Sleepy supports S.S. at second Posted: December 09, 2008 at 12:40 PM (#3024004)

They could just make a rule that punishes the batter if pieces of the bat fly onto the field. Fine him or make everyone on the basepaths automatically out or eject him from the game or something.

6. phredbird

Posted: December 09, 2008 at 03:53 PM (#3024268)

if they don't come up with decent specs and enforce them this will be a debacle. i was about 20 ft. away from the woman who was struck by the barrel of a bat at dodger stadium last year and she could have been hurt a whole lot worse. as it is, she suffered a broken jaw. it was downright scary.

7. mashimaro Posted: December 09, 2008 at 06:46 PM (#3024445)

If the players and manufacturers follow the specs, offense will be down because of slower bat speeds. Hopefully, this will help the games move along a little faster. The pitchers might be able to challenge hitters with the "high" fastball again.

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Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Maple bats won’t be banned by Major League Baseball

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