The wrong kind of chin music

One of the biggest critiques of the anti-metal bat movement sweeping the country is that it's primarily based upon anecdotal evidence. The hard data, people say, will show you that metal bats are no more dangerous than wood bats.

Try telling that to the family of a Lacey, Washington high school sophomore whose jaw was shattered by a rocket off an Easton Stealth Composite. The kid will spend the next 2-4 months with his jaws wired shut, could lose two teeth, and will know for the rest of his life that he was spared from death by millimeters.

I wrote a story for today's Olympian on the nearly tragic event and a sidebar on the player's parents asking for a change in the rules. Check them out, if you like.

In preparing to write the story, I recalled a blog entry I wrote months ago on this very subject. In it I said,

"If you take the metal bats away from baseball, kids and young adults will still sustain serious injuries and even death due to batted balls, simply because the nature of such events is so unforeseen. It's about being in the exactly wrong place at exactly the wrong time."

There is truth to the notion, but it's hard not to be persuaded when you're sitting in front of a kid whose jaws are wired shut and parents filled with fear and anger.