Protection of lawful commerce in arms baseball bats
Ok, then:
The mother of a Miles City Mavericks baseball player who died after being hit in the head with a batted ball during a 2003 game in Helena is seeking damages from the makers of Louisville Slugger bats in this civil trial, sure to draw national attention and stoke the discussion of whether aluminum bats create an unfair advantage or are too dangerous.
We must ban aluminum bats. They are assault weapons.
October 22nd, 2009 at 10:55 am
Markie Marxist sez: “Of course, once we Marxists have taken over, anyone who complains about state-manufactured, baseball bats will get a visit from our Marxist/warrior/hero/government agents and a beating. We can’t have people disrupting our Marxist society. However, as long as America remains a capitalist society, complaints should be encouraged and lawsuits against private bat makers should proceed. We need to dysfunctionalize capitalism as much as possible to pave the way for communization.”
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:25 pm
What nonsense. It’s not the bat’s fault, obviously the ball is responsible. She should sue the ball.
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:55 pm
My understanding is studies show that a ball of an aluminum bat travels at a much higher velocity than off a wooden bat which means that in a line drive a fielder has less time to react. Their are movements to ban aluminum bats for this reason would not surprise me if this is the purpose of this suit.My view is if wood is good enough for the majors why not at the lower levels?
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:11 pm
In answer to Ben, cost, pure and simple. I used to coach at a very small high school and found that for about $600, I was able to outfit our team with a decent selection of aluminum bats that have, so far, survived 3+ seasons of baseball and the accompanying abuse. If we’d gone with wood bats, the best estimate I’ve seen suggests we would have spent at least that much each season and wouldn’t have been as able to plan our expenditures. For programs that run on a shoestring like ours, that’s the difference between fielding a team and not having one.
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:28 pm
All batters like aluminum bats and all pitchers hate them. You do get a lot more home runs and line drives with them — the ball gets hit more squarely, harder and faster.
In any case, one good lawsuit deserves another. A few years back NCAA tried to set specifications for bats, which would have excluded some of the hollow, gas-filled ones, and the manufacturers sued for everything from anti-trust to restraint of trade. NCAA backed down.
October 22nd, 2009 at 5:03 pm
“They are assault weapons.” Worse, the direction of their deadly projectile isn’t as controllable as a bullet from a gun. But as assault weapons their manufacturers are protected.