FORT MYERS, Fla. --There are few scarier sights on a baseball field than a shattered bat spinning awkwardly toward a player's head.Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon saw it happen Wednesday. Again. His pitcher, lefty David Price, avoided serious injury when the maple bat of Boston's Adrian Beltre shattered and zoomed toward his head.
Afterward, Maddon said maple bats are becoming the "Claymore mines of baseball.'' A Claymore mine, just for reference, is a directional antipersonnel mine used by the U.S. military in ambushes and against enemy infantry.
Price escaped with just an abrasion on his right palm near his thumb. Maddon vented about the use of maple bats after the game, saying the next time, or sometime after that, someone else won't be as lucky.
"Some day somebody is going to get killed or impaled,'' Maddon said. "David was fortunate today.''
Studies by baseball's Safety and Health Advisory committee in 2008 concluded that maple bats are three times as likely to shatter as traditional ash bats. The study didn't outlaw the bats, just made suggestions about how manufacturers should create the slope of the bat.
And the maple bats still keep shattering, although it's not clear if they are shattering less or more.
"Some day somebody is going to get killed or impaled. David [Price] was fortunate today."
-- Rays manager Joe Maddon on maple bats "I don't know if [the use of maple bats] is because of a shortage of wood or what,'' Maddon said. "But it's my opinion that maple should be banned at all levels.
"It's not the first time I've talked about it. The first time I did, people laughed. I think it's time to stop laughing.''
Beltre was the second batter of the second inning Wednesday. Batting with a man on, his maple bat shattered and Price instinctively went to cover his face as the shards flew around the infield.
"It was scary, but it could have been a lot worse,'' Price said after catching his breath. He was taken out of the game, but there seems a good chance he won't miss a turn in the Rays' rotation. X-rays taken after the incident proved negative.
Jon Lester, the Boston starter, didn't seem particularly fond of maple bats, but he seems resigned to the fact that they're here to stay.
"Ash doesn't shatter like that,'' Lester said. "But hitters like it.''
True. But most pitchers hate the thought that on any given swing, a maple bat is more prone to shatter than an ash bat.
"Any time you step on the field, you're in danger of something hitting you,'' he said, "whether it's a ball or a bat or whatever. It's just kind of part of the game. It kind of sucks that baseball hasn't done a very good job with maple bats.
"It seems like they tried to do something last year, but they just aren't getting the results. They're a danger to the game. They're a danger to all the players and the fans. Hopefully they can do something about those bats."
Red Sox manager Terry Francona, while obviously relieved that no one was injured, didn't take Maddon's hard-line approach, or even Lester's wishful one."It may not be just [the type of wood],'' he said of all the incidents, including one two years ago where Pirates hitting coach Don Long suffered a gash in the face after being hit. "You've got big, strong guys up there and they're using lighter bats, thinner handles, bigger heads. But you don't want to see one of them break. The kid was fortunate.''
It was the Long incident that trigged baseball's analysis of maple bats that ultimately prompted the changes in the manufacturing process.
Long himself hasn't come out in favor of a ban.
Comments (Page 1 of 2)
BOSTON REDSOX BASEBALL TEAM BANNED FOR ONE YEAR !
This is typical baseball head in the sand approach, just like when it forced a lot more players into steriod use in order to keep their jobs because Fehr and the commish refused to stop it. This maple bat issue will go on until someone in the stands gets killed, its only a matter of time, and baseball will pay big again for being stupid.
Have to agree with rhsetser..It's not a question of "if", it's "when" a player, a coach , a fan will be impaled by a flying broken bat. Why?? Because the players insist on using lighter and lighter bats ( less dense, weaker) Wait till Johnny Damon hits in Detroit ( he breaks 2 or 3 bats every game) I can see it now, His broken bat flys into the broadcast booth and injures Hall of Fame icon Al Kaline!!!! Maybe then, Selig will take notice and return to the good ole Louisville Slugger
I agree, not if but when. And when it does happen I pray that it doesn't happen to a little kid. They should also think about putting a leather band around their wrists tied to the bat, like racquet ball, so that when players lose the grip on the bat, the bat won't go flying into the stands. It's not so much the players on the field because they are paying attention, it is the fan who's sitting there talking to someone and a bat flys in and conks them in the head.
Typical D0-NOTHING
Two years ago, at a Cardinal game, the barrel of a bat (with a shattered,
pointed end) came into the stands right over the head of a fan and struck
a concrete wall with a great and loud sound. If it had hit the fan it
certainly could have killed her.
Pitcher shud be able to refuse to throw the ball to anyone swinging a maple bat. Com on u guys have a sense and a courtesy to have a fun game without worrying every at bat that someone is gonna get it bad and very bad!!
So just stop using them> If they break that much. you can't hit a homerun if the bat breaks
there is an 'official' baseball ; why not an 'official' bat supplier ----- oh that's right ; the players union . and they apparently don't care if someone gets killed or not ! there should be minimuns on weight , handle thickness , and weight balance .
Yup, it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye... and then it's just a game: "Where's the eye! where's the eye!"...
It isn't just the maple bat, it is the fact that the players shave the handles down and they splinter where they are weakened. You can't blame the manufacturer for that. I think we are in for another year of this until someone somewhere gets hurt. Fans have been hurt and seriously, but because there is a statement on the back of their tickets saying basically they "take their life into their own hands when they attend a game," MLB can't be sued or at least they have never lost a suit filed for injury in the stands. It will take a player dying to fix this I believe.
They need to go back to using ONLY bats made of ash. Too bad if the players don't like it; they like the $$ and will abide by the rules, or get out of MLB!
And.. don't even think about aluminum bats... they should be outlawed at all levels of play.
Something is killing off the ash trees. Why not use hickory? I have some old hickory bats, and they seem to me to be harder than either maple or ash.
Also, the batters need to have the "labels up", in which the facing of the bat is aligned along with the grain when you hit the ball!!! No matter which wood is being used!!! Hitting against the grain makes bats more vulnerable to breakage!!! Anybody who has played knows this!!!
I've been saying that for years. All of the players grew up using aluminumbats so they never had to learn that aspect.
Bud Selig allowed steroids for years because he wanted more potent offenses in baseball. He let it go until it became a national disgrace. Bud Selig will allow maple bats in baseball because he wants more potent offenses in baseball. He will let it go until someone, a player, an umpire or a fan is killed. Bud Selig is the worst Commissioner in the history of baseball!!!!!
You are a genius! I could go on for hours about all the 'Selig-mistakes' (Steroids,All-Star game tie, so now it determines WS home-field advantage? Insane! Making the NL Central have six teams, where the AL West only has four-moving Houston in to the AL West would create a rivalry with the Rangers, right? World Baseball Classic? Oh, great idea! Let's have our guys play at top speed well before what they are used to. The facts show that players get hurt more and productivity drops for them during the MLB season after playing in the WBC.How he is still in power baffles me completely.
Just go to Aluminum, that simple.
You obviously know nothing about baseball or baseball bats to make such a stupid comment like that. You do realize why aluminum and ceramic bats are not allowed right? The speed the ball would come ack off that bat from pro ball players would lead to quick death since the speed to human reaction time would not allow a pitcher to react to the ball. It is simple the bats need to be made of hardwoods like ash and the handles need to be regulated to certain thickness standards or someone will be killed.
I'd like to see the video of where on his right hand was he damaged. Being a lefty, he had a glove on his right hand. They said the damage is near his thumb. So was the injury to his wrist? If so, then say that instead of near his thumb. No wonder it seems people are getting more stupid by the day.
go to graphite bats, simple solution to a complex problem, try to shave the handle down on those suckers