Shattering maple bats: raising concerns in the majors: alarming rate of splintered wood flying around ball parks this season has put players, coaches, umpires and fans on alert to avoid injury

Baseball Digest, August, 2008 by Dave van Dyck

EVERY BASEBALL PLAYER SEEMS TO have a story about a close call with the game's newest nemesis, the airborne bat barrel.

"Second game of the year in Cleveland," White Sox reliever Matt Thornton recalled. "I threw the pitch, snapped the bat in half. The ball was coming toward me and the bat was coming too. I went to field the ball and the head of the bat actually went into my glove.

"The ball squirmed through my legs. They called it a hit instead of an error. I'd rather have the error. Cost me an earned run."

Pirates hitting coach Don Long would like to find some humor in his story, too. Even if he could, he has only half a smile to use.

Long suffered a gash to the left side of his nose and just above his lip when whirling wood became a near-lethal weapon. The sharp end of the bat not only left a nasty scar, it damaged a nerve that left part of his upper lip without feeling.

"The ball (off Nate McLouth's bat) was hit down the right-field line and I was following the ball and didn't even see the bat break," Long recalled. "It hit me and I saw the blood coming out. "I was lucky. It could have hit me in the eye."

Lucky? Because a sharp piece of shattered maple, from what is supposed to be a game, sliced into him two inches away from blindness? That's lucky? Real "hick" would be never having it happen in the first place.

"The problem I have is that I watch every pitch of the game, but the fans are visiting and talking," Long said. "They don't see foul balls, so a lot aren't going to see the bat coming.

"We played the next series after I got hit at Wrigley Field and one flew over our dugout. It hit a guy in the head, bounced off him and cut a guy in the forehead with the other end of it."

The problem has become so prevalent that Major League Baseball ordered an investigation--for a second time--of why maple bats are snapping and barrels are whirly-birding all over the park.

Traditional--but now less popular--ash bats crack, of course, but they don't seem to become soaring sabers.

"When (maple bats) come apart, there's barely any handle left," Long said. "It's a spear is what it is. It's like throwing javelins."

Infielders and pitchers are particularly at risk.

"Usually when you hear the bat crack and it starts flying, your main concern is that bat, as opposed to the ball," said White Sox third baseman Joe Crede. "I've seen them stick in the ground like lawn darts.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"It's a matter of time before something bad happens, before the sharp end of the bat hits somebody."

White Sox designated hitter Jim Thome, who primarily uses maple bats, acknowledges "breaking a lot, I mean a lot" of bats this season, maybe an average of one every two or three games.

"And when they break, they slice," Thome said. "It's not like before. I was a big ash guy and they would just break in the handle. Now they slice. It's crazy.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"You don't want anybody to get hurt. There are little kids who sit up front. You just never know."

The Cubs' leader in creating splinters is Reed Johnson, who, of course, uses maple bats and seems to break about one per game.

"I don't know if I have a bad batch or what's going on," he said. "If you have a problem like that, you usually let the bat company know and they will try to make an adjustment. If they don't, you try to go somewhere else (for bats).

"There are so many companies, you don't know what you're getting," teammate Ryan Theriot said. "A good friend of mine owns a (maple) bat company. They hand-pick their wood. But you have 40-50 companies that are licensed."

Maple bats became popular in the late 1990s and then exploded in popularity after Barry Bonds blasted his record 73 home runs in 2001 with maple. On some teams as many as three-quarters of the hitters use maple.

Players cite the maple's hard exterior and (believe it or not), their durability.

Very few want to switch back to ash, and it appears the players' union will be on their side if MLB ever tries to out-law maple.

The sides are united in working for solutions through a health and safety committee, which had scheduled a meeting for the first time in June.

"We are very concerned about the safety of maple," MLB spokesman Pat Courtney said.

"They have to do something," Long said. "If it were a couple of times a week that it happened, it would be different. But it's strange if you don't see it two or three times in a game. It's every day. Something has to be done.

"I understand the psyche that goes into players sticking with maple. If you think it's going to perform better, it probably will. But at the same time there has to be a way to make a more effective product."

"More effective" would translate into less breakage and certainly a shorter flying distance for the barrel end.

Everyone agrees times have changed, even if they don't agree on the ultimate solutions.

Stressing "something is wrong here and it's dangerous," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen already has talked to MLB officials.