Safety of maple bats sticky issue

0 Comments | USA TODAY, June, 2008 | by Jorge L. Ortiz

Pittsburgh Pirates hitting coach Don Long still can't feel part of his upper lip or smile after a broken bat whirled dozens of feet and slashed his left cheek April 15.

Fan Susan Rhodes was sitting four rows behind the visiting dugout at Dodger Stadium 10 days later when her jaw was broken in two places after the shattered barrel of a bat slammed into her face. Her jaw was wired shut for three weeks. She only recently began eating soft food.

Arizona Diamondbacks CEO Jeffrey Moorad and his family avoided such misfortune, but just barely, when a bat piece helicoptered toward their seats next to the home dugout at Chase Field on May 15.

These are only the most prominent among numerous incidents of maple bats shattering on contact and turning into...