Garden City Athletic Association

P.O. Box 4, Garden City, NY 11530

www.gc-aa.com

January 2007

To: Parents of Players in the GCAA Baseball and Softball Program

From: The GCAA Board of Directors

Re: Our Decision to Switch to Wood Bats

At the outset, we must state the obvious: The GCAA can never guarantee that the sports we administer will be 100% risk-free. No one can guarantee this. Things happen and injuries occur, no matter how many precautions are taken.

The debate over the issue of the safety of metal bats has received much attention over the years. Introduced in the mid-1970s as a cheaper, more durable alternative to wood, metal bats became increasingly potent, constructed of advanced alloys enclosing pressurized air chambers. On one side of the debate are many coaches, players, league administrators and others who would argue that these powerful bats are placing pitchers and fielders at undue risk and changing the game for the worse. On the other side are bat manufacturers, and other coaches, administrators and observers, who counter that the metal bats are perfectly safe and that the extra power they provide isn’t such a bad thing.

The scientific evidence is not extensive but what research has been done supports the proposition that, all others factors being equal, baseballs hit off of a metal bat travel at a substantially higher velocity than balls hit off of wood bat. One such study was conducted by researchers at Brown University and another was conducted by the Baum Research and Development Company of Traverse City, Michigan. The Baum study also suggests that non-wood bats not only generate greater exit speeds, but also contain a larger “sweet spot,” which means that a batter can drive a ball back into the field even when hitting the ball near the handle or the end of the bat. The Baum study contends that a larger “sweet spot” results in an increased number of hard-hit balls, and thus an increase in the risk of injury to pitchers and fielders.

The statistical evidence, while not precise because youth league baseball injuries are not reliably reported and compiled, further support this proposition. A New Jersey legislator who recently introduced a bill to impose a statewide ban on metal bats (more about this in a moment) cited the unfortunate statistic that between 1991 and 2001, 15 players were killed by balls from bats determined to be made of non-wood aluminum while only two fatal incidents involved wood bats.

The anecdotal evidence is no less compelling. Support for New Jersey’s law banning metal bats, which is now before the full State Assembly, was spurred on by the tragic case of a Wayne, New Jersey 12 year-old boy, Steven Domalewski, who was struck in the chest by a line drive off of a metal bat while pitching in a Little League game in June of this year, sending him into cardiac arrest. Three spectators rushed onto the field and resuscitated him, but the damage was done. He suffered brain swelling and went into a coma. Four months later, he was still unable to talk or see. Recently, a similar bill to ban metal bats was introduced in the New York City Council. Testifying before the committee considering the bill was a Montana mother, Debbie Patch, whose son, Brandon, died in 2003 after being hit in the temple by a ball off of a metal bat.

Even if most games proceed without incident or injury, and any injuries suffered are not as tragic as these, anyone who has been around youth baseball games has undoubtedly witnessed his or her share of frightening incidents involving line drives rocketed back toward the pitcher. Still, Little League Baseball, Inc., the organization based in Williamsport, Pa. that charters and oversees our program and 7,400 other programs like ours around the world, opposes a ban on metal bats, stating that rules requiring that the specifications of metal bats be similar to wood bats have negated any safety issues. Some of these specifications, incidentally, will not be effective until the 2009 season.

After careful consideration and review of the issues, we, the GCAA Board, have decided that we respectfully disagree with our colleagues at Little League Baseball, Inc., though we believe their opinion to be sincere and well-intentioned. Our responsibility, first and foremost, is to the children who participate in our programs. While we cannot make our programs risk-free, we can, and must, take all necessary steps to eliminate what we believe are the very real risks presented by metal bats.

It boils down to this: Every split-second matters. The ball comes off the bat at a high rate of speed directly toward the young pitcher standing a mere 46 feet away (and, actually, even closer than that, having completed his follow-through off the pitching rubber as he releases the ball toward the batter). Requiring that the bat be made of wood, not metal, will, in our opinion, give our young pitcher more split-seconds to react and avoid being hit.

In reaching this decision, we realize that we are acting as trailblazers -- but we are encouraged that we are not alone. There seems, in fact, to be a growing movement afoot back to wood bats. New Jersey and New York City would not, for example, be the only municipalities that ban metal bats if their bills become law. Illinois high schools have started a pilot program to test wood bats; North Dakota high school teams plan to switch to wood next year, and Massachusetts Catholic high school baseball teams have used only wood bats since 2003. Locally, the Nassau-Suffolk Catholic High School Athletic Association, which includes Chaminade, switched last year to being a “wood bat only” league. And there are several other Little League programs like ours that have decided to use wood bats only. (We are not, by the way, in violation of Little League rules in using wood bats. Section 1.10 of the rules permits the use of bats made of wood or of other material acceptable to Little League standards.).

Of course, we hope that everyone’s decision turns out to be correct: That those leagues that decide to continue to use metal bats, as well as those like ours that switch to wood, suffer no more tragedies. We believe, however, that our decision to act now is proper and prudent for the participants in our GCAA program. Inaction is not an option. As stated very well by the accomplished and notable Queens high school baseball coach, Jack Curran, who is also a wood bat advocate, in a recent New York Times article describing his frustration with those who oppose any action banning metal bats: “Someday, somebody’s going to get killed. It will be like after a kid gets hit by a car at the corner. Then they put in a red light.”

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A final word about the game itself and how it may change: Some parents and players might be disappointed if the switch to wood results in fewer long-balls and hard line drives, especially as the kids get accustomed to using wood bats. Many baseball observers and experts will argue, on the other hand, that it is a better game played with wood, and that a greater emphasis will be placed on kids’ learning fundamental skills. The web site “Real Players Hit With Wood” (www.baseballtips.com/wood.html) states, for example, that “training with wood forces the player to become mechanically precise and builds bat speed and strength.”

We believe it will be a better game and a safer game. Who would argue with this winning combination?