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04-15-2007, 11:05 PM
Safety in Lumber? N.Y. Bill Says Yes (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500968.html)
By Alan Goldenbach
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 16, 2007; E01
James Oddo has spent six years championing a cause he says is not that important. Yet, if the New York City councilman is able to turn his cause into legislation, it could set into motion a sweeping change in the way baseball is played at all youth levels nationwide.
Oddo wants to ban the use of all non-wooden bats from game action in New York City high schools, both public and private. It is a public safety issue, he said, and one that the scholastic and sport's governing bodies have not addressed.
"I will not step back and say that this is not an issue for government," Oddo said. "I'm a conservative Republican, but this is an example where the government is the only entity out there. My hope is now this is a green light for other organizations and leagues of all ages to follow suit."
Oddo's bill, which would take effect next school year, passed the City Council by a 40-6 margin. Although Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (R) vetoed the measure on April 4, the council will seek to override the veto with a two-thirds majority next month, and appears to have the votes to do so.
The outcome is being watched by high school administrators across the country. New York wouldn't be the first jurisdiction to pass such legislation -- North Dakota switched to wood bats this school year -- but it would be the biggest.
Tom Dolan, Virginia High School League assistant director and its liaison to its Sports Medicine Committee, said it would be very difficult getting each of the state's regions to adopt the rule, and it would not be fair to allow some regions to use metal, while others would be restricted to wood.
"It's also going to be an expensive undertaking," Dolan said.
Ned Sparks, executive director of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association, is aware of the situation in New York. Sparks was on the National High School Federation board of directors in 2000 when it passed regulations aimed at reducing the velocity with which baseballs come off aluminum bats.
The NFHS regulations also require umpires to check the bats before each game. This, Sparks said, alleviates any concerns he might have.
"Who are we, Maryland, to say we're smarter than [the NFHS]? We don't have testing laboratories. We rely on the national federation to set a standard and we follow that standard. I was in on all that discussion when it was going on. We don't have any greater knowledge."
Oddo believes he doesn't need scientific evidence. Not after hearing testimony from parents whose children have either been killed or severely injured by balls launched off aluminum bats.
"I don't want to hear about statistics, because I don't think there is a comprehensive list out there," said Oddo, who first became interested in the cause when he learned of a 14-year-old lacrosse player who died from commotio cordis after absorbing a ball in his chest in 2000.
His bill "is unsupported by any empirical data, and risks placing City high school baseball players at a competitive disadvantage," Bloomberg said in a statement announcing his veto. "The bill represents an inappropriate intrusion into an area that should be left to the considered oversight of baseball league officials, who are best suited to address such matters."
The bill's co-sponsor and chair of the council's Youth Services Committee, Lewis A. Fidler (D), said he expects to receive the approval of two-thirds of the 51-member council to override the mayor's veto later this month.
"We're going to override them," Fidler said. "There is absolutely no denying, no matter how much the industry tells you otherwise, that the ball comes off metal bats faster."
Critics of the bill also cited costs incurred to replace all the bats citywide next year for the 186 teams (130 varsity and 56 junior varsity) at city public schools. Oddo estimates each team being given 30 bats at $50 apiece, amounting to $279,000 for the changeover.
Working with the city's Board of Education to ascertain these figures, Oddo also anticipates half the bats will need to be replaced each year -- instead of the two new aluminum bats at $175 each given to teams annually. Wood bats have been shown to break much more frequently than aluminum ones, though metal bats can cost in excess of $300 apiece. According to those estimates, it would cost the city an extra $74,400 each year to replenish the city's bat inventory.
Jim Darby, a vice president for Easton Sports, a prominent California bat maker, acknowledged the possibility of a lawsuit if the veto is overridden. Darby said he planned to speak with council members to change their minds before the next vote.
"It's really not a safety issue," Darby said.
But it's certainly an emotional one, and that is Oddo's chief argument. Last October, Debbie Patch testified before the City Council about the line drive that killed her 18-year-old son Brandon in a Montana American Legion game in July 2003. Last month, Joseph Domalewski of New Jersey told the council how his 12-year-old son Steven was hit in the chest last June, went into cardiac arrest, and, even though he was revived on the field, was comatose for more than two months and suffered severe brain damage.
Oddo originally proposed legislation in September 2002 to ban the use of non-wood bats by all minors in the city, including Little League games. Fidler said the focus has narrowed because high-schoolers "are the kids most at risk. I'm not worried about a 7-year-old [getting hurt] playing T-ball."
Oddo's biggest hurdle has been the fact that there has been no independent study done comparing the two types of bats with the current standards in place for the composition of aluminum bats. A group of engineers from Brown University concluded in 2002 that balls travel faster upon impact from an aluminum bat than a wooden one.
Four of the five aluminum bats used in that study, however, no longer meet NCAA guidelines, according to Dan Russell, associate professor of applied physics at Kettering University, who has studied the acoustical and vibrational behavior of wood and aluminum bats.
Russell and Darby explained why aluminum bats are the overwhelming preference of ballplayers: They are lighter and batters can swing them faster. Darby added that "aluminum allows [the sweet spot] to be a little bit bigger."
Russell said: "If you can swing the bat faster, the ball will go further. It is possible for an aluminum bat to hit balls very, very fast. The difference is aluminum bats will give more people an opportunity to hit it out."
Although the NCAA permits metal bats, Major and Minor League Baseball both prohibit them. Only two New York high school coaches have spoken out in favor of the proposed ban: Columbus High's Philip Romano and Archbishop Molloy's Jack Curran. Romano said others have kept quiet because of the influence and power wielded by bat makers, who are chief sponsors of the NCAA, Little League and other youth baseball organizations.
"Here," Romano said, "you have kids [with bats] with artificial large sweet spots, but the pros don't. Why? Because it's dangerous. The aluminum bat is a performance-enhancer, just like steroids."
Staff writer Josh Barr contributed to this report.
By Alan Goldenbach
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 16, 2007; E01
James Oddo has spent six years championing a cause he says is not that important. Yet, if the New York City councilman is able to turn his cause into legislation, it could set into motion a sweeping change in the way baseball is played at all youth levels nationwide.
Oddo wants to ban the use of all non-wooden bats from game action in New York City high schools, both public and private. It is a public safety issue, he said, and one that the scholastic and sport's governing bodies have not addressed.
"I will not step back and say that this is not an issue for government," Oddo said. "I'm a conservative Republican, but this is an example where the government is the only entity out there. My hope is now this is a green light for other organizations and leagues of all ages to follow suit."
Oddo's bill, which would take effect next school year, passed the City Council by a 40-6 margin. Although Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (R) vetoed the measure on April 4, the council will seek to override the veto with a two-thirds majority next month, and appears to have the votes to do so.
The outcome is being watched by high school administrators across the country. New York wouldn't be the first jurisdiction to pass such legislation -- North Dakota switched to wood bats this school year -- but it would be the biggest.
Tom Dolan, Virginia High School League assistant director and its liaison to its Sports Medicine Committee, said it would be very difficult getting each of the state's regions to adopt the rule, and it would not be fair to allow some regions to use metal, while others would be restricted to wood.
"It's also going to be an expensive undertaking," Dolan said.
Ned Sparks, executive director of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association, is aware of the situation in New York. Sparks was on the National High School Federation board of directors in 2000 when it passed regulations aimed at reducing the velocity with which baseballs come off aluminum bats.
The NFHS regulations also require umpires to check the bats before each game. This, Sparks said, alleviates any concerns he might have.
"Who are we, Maryland, to say we're smarter than [the NFHS]? We don't have testing laboratories. We rely on the national federation to set a standard and we follow that standard. I was in on all that discussion when it was going on. We don't have any greater knowledge."
Oddo believes he doesn't need scientific evidence. Not after hearing testimony from parents whose children have either been killed or severely injured by balls launched off aluminum bats.
"I don't want to hear about statistics, because I don't think there is a comprehensive list out there," said Oddo, who first became interested in the cause when he learned of a 14-year-old lacrosse player who died from commotio cordis after absorbing a ball in his chest in 2000.
His bill "is unsupported by any empirical data, and risks placing City high school baseball players at a competitive disadvantage," Bloomberg said in a statement announcing his veto. "The bill represents an inappropriate intrusion into an area that should be left to the considered oversight of baseball league officials, who are best suited to address such matters."
The bill's co-sponsor and chair of the council's Youth Services Committee, Lewis A. Fidler (D), said he expects to receive the approval of two-thirds of the 51-member council to override the mayor's veto later this month.
"We're going to override them," Fidler said. "There is absolutely no denying, no matter how much the industry tells you otherwise, that the ball comes off metal bats faster."
Critics of the bill also cited costs incurred to replace all the bats citywide next year for the 186 teams (130 varsity and 56 junior varsity) at city public schools. Oddo estimates each team being given 30 bats at $50 apiece, amounting to $279,000 for the changeover.
Working with the city's Board of Education to ascertain these figures, Oddo also anticipates half the bats will need to be replaced each year -- instead of the two new aluminum bats at $175 each given to teams annually. Wood bats have been shown to break much more frequently than aluminum ones, though metal bats can cost in excess of $300 apiece. According to those estimates, it would cost the city an extra $74,400 each year to replenish the city's bat inventory.
Jim Darby, a vice president for Easton Sports, a prominent California bat maker, acknowledged the possibility of a lawsuit if the veto is overridden. Darby said he planned to speak with council members to change their minds before the next vote.
"It's really not a safety issue," Darby said.
But it's certainly an emotional one, and that is Oddo's chief argument. Last October, Debbie Patch testified before the City Council about the line drive that killed her 18-year-old son Brandon in a Montana American Legion game in July 2003. Last month, Joseph Domalewski of New Jersey told the council how his 12-year-old son Steven was hit in the chest last June, went into cardiac arrest, and, even though he was revived on the field, was comatose for more than two months and suffered severe brain damage.
Oddo originally proposed legislation in September 2002 to ban the use of non-wood bats by all minors in the city, including Little League games. Fidler said the focus has narrowed because high-schoolers "are the kids most at risk. I'm not worried about a 7-year-old [getting hurt] playing T-ball."
Oddo's biggest hurdle has been the fact that there has been no independent study done comparing the two types of bats with the current standards in place for the composition of aluminum bats. A group of engineers from Brown University concluded in 2002 that balls travel faster upon impact from an aluminum bat than a wooden one.
Four of the five aluminum bats used in that study, however, no longer meet NCAA guidelines, according to Dan Russell, associate professor of applied physics at Kettering University, who has studied the acoustical and vibrational behavior of wood and aluminum bats.
Russell and Darby explained why aluminum bats are the overwhelming preference of ballplayers: They are lighter and batters can swing them faster. Darby added that "aluminum allows [the sweet spot] to be a little bit bigger."
Russell said: "If you can swing the bat faster, the ball will go further. It is possible for an aluminum bat to hit balls very, very fast. The difference is aluminum bats will give more people an opportunity to hit it out."
Although the NCAA permits metal bats, Major and Minor League Baseball both prohibit them. Only two New York high school coaches have spoken out in favor of the proposed ban: Columbus High's Philip Romano and Archbishop Molloy's Jack Curran. Romano said others have kept quiet because of the influence and power wielded by bat makers, who are chief sponsors of the NCAA, Little League and other youth baseball organizations.
"Here," Romano said, "you have kids [with bats] with artificial large sweet spots, but the pros don't. Why? Because it's dangerous. The aluminum bat is a performance-enhancer, just like steroids."
Staff writer Josh Barr contributed to this report.