Metal vs. Wood: Baseball Bat Battle Brews

April 2, 2007— -- Dustin Satloff, 13, has a curious affinity for baseball. He loves to play, but his passion extends beyond the catcher's box he occupies for New York City's Collegiate School. "I've just always loved baseball bats," he says.

When Dustin's father, who operates a ski factory in China, told him he was experimenting with a new material, his curiosity was piqued. Dustin and his father now own Sat-Bat, a company that makes and sells bamboo-composite baseball bats from Indiana to Connecticut.

Bamboo bats represent a tiny fraction of the competitive, multimillion dollar baseball bat industry, but Dustin says they're slowly gaining wider use in various youth and amateur leagues.

"It's a growing business. Most people go out and buy maple bats or metal bats, just because they don't know about bamboo," he says.

And according to Dustin it only takes a few swings to become a believer. "They don't break as often as wood bats," he says, and can last up to four times longer than a conventional piece of lumber. Dustin is quick to explain how the benefits of a bamboo bat even transcend baseball. "They're also good for the environment. Bamboo grows really fast. It only takes five years to grow bamboo, which is much faster than regular trees."

Dustin's Sat-Bat is one of the few positive, refreshing stories to emerge from an otherwise ugly battle brewing in many local communities about the use of metal versus wooden bats in baseball. Major Leauge baseball players use wooden bats. But most other leagues, including Little Leagues, high school and college level leagues, use metal.

This year the issue came to a head in New York when the City Council voted to ban metal bats from citywide high school baseball competitions.

The council passed a measure on March 14 by an overwhelming majority (40-6) that could force high school baseball teams to stop using metal bats and instead switch to wooden bats starting next year. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has yet to act on the bill, but many have speculated he will kill the legislation, despite the council having secured enough votes to override a veto.

The reason for the turn against metal bats is that there have been several cases where players -- particularly pitchers -- have gotten seriously injured as a result of a sharply hit line drive off a metal bat. In July 2003, Brandon Patch, an 18-year-old pitching in an American Legion game in Montana, was killed after a line drive off an aluminum bat struck him in the head.

The rules governing youth baseball are set by various baseball federations, including USA Baseball, Little League, Pony League, American Legion and the National Federation of High School Sports, for example. Most still allow metal bats, but the tide may be turning back toward bats made of wood.

The New York bill's sponsor and original author, Council Minority Leader James Oddo of Staten Island says the issue is bigger than metal bats versus wooden bats. He says the key issue is safety and whether metal bats are being fairly represented as just as safe as wood. A pitcher has just fractions of a second to react to a batted ball. Oddo believes those fractions of seconds are the difference between "getting out of the way and getting struck by the ball."

"The [bat manufacturing] cartel has fought tooth and nail any efforts to ban and restrict their bats," Oddo explained.

Baseball leagues and bat manufacturers oppose the New York bill, arguing the council lacks scientific evidence to demonstrate the danger of metal bats, and they point to studies demonstrating the opposite.

Rick Redman, spokesman for bat manufacturer Louisville Slugger says, "The New York City Council is leading the public to believe that baseball is safer with metal bats, and that just isn't true." He points to performance limitations instituted by baseball's governing bodies in 2002 that make metal bats perform like wooden bats, and says all Louisville Slugger bats comply with these rules.

As for the danger, Redman said the type of bat is irrelevant. "The fact of the matter is, wood bats can hit the ball as fast as metal bats. … If you hit it on the sweet spot, it doesn't matter what kind of bat you use." Redman also points to injury data that suggests that the use of metal bats has not led to increases in batted-ball injuries.

Rick Greenwald, a member, American Society of Testing and Materials, the body that develops test methodologies for products in widespread public use and who's also chairman of the group's baseball subcommittee, said here is no evidence to justify this kind of ban.

He also believes the only way to effectively regulate the game and quantify the risk involved is to commission the appropriate, epidemiological studies. He called for an investigation into injury rates and injury severity over time. But right now, he said, reliable data just do not exist. "I am not aware of any published peer-reviewed scientific data that supports the notion that there has been an increase in injuries related to being struck by a batted ball in baseball or softball at any level of play due to increased batted ball speed or bat performance. Baseball and softball appear to have remained at the very low end of the injury incidence lists."

But proponents of the metal bat ban are skeptical of the current studies. In Councilman Oddo's assessment, the injury statistics furnished by baseball organizations are incomplete, making it impossible to get an accurate picture of the problem.

The USA Baseball League, with the support of metal bat manufacturers, offered to conduct a study for the New York City Council analyzing the safety issues. But Councilman Oddo declined. He introduced this legislation six years ago and calls this another repeated attempt by the metal bat companies to delay, calling the study a "disingenuous offer."

"First, we'll implement change," he said, "if we want to do a study after that, that's fine. I don't want to delay on any false promises."

Both the bat manufacturers and Councilman Oddo said their primary concern is to keep the game safe for the players, and Oddo doesn't necessarily view the ban on metal as permanent. "If this gives rise to national legislation that limits metal bats to really perform like wood," he said, "than maybe that's a good thing."

The switch from metal to wood is likely to be a good thing for the bamboo Sat-Bat and 13 year old Dustin Satloff, who already has an eye on his future, whether it's in the Major Leagues or the boardroom. He said, "I think the switch is good. It will help separate the good players