DUGOUT: Maple bats create new risks

Sports fans love nothing more than to be close to the action. Huge high-definition television screens are nice, but a front-row seat to a baseball game is the ideal gift.

However, most fans fail to recognize the risk that is associated with these prime seats.

One hundred degrees is a temperature that is regularly reached here in Tucson, but the added 50 percent humidity that the city of St. Louis boasts makes for extremely tough playing conditions for the Cardinals.

On June 26, during the singing of “God Bless America” before a game against the Minnesota Twins, a fan fell head first from the upper deck of St. Louis’ Busch Stadium. He apparently fainted in the 92-degree heat and toppled about 15 feet to an empty chair below. The unfortunate fan was admitted into the hospital with a nasty gash on his face and numerous “bumps and bruises.”

This injury is just the latest in a long line of events that display the risk of attending a baseball game.

When you purchase a ticket, you are assuming the risk of injury that can result from a foul ball or thrown bat. This has long been established as the “baseball rule” and has been used in court many times to protect teams from litigation.

One example was in a Sept. 13, 2005 ruling, where a split panel decided that the Newark Bears weren’t to be held responsible for the injury a woman received when she was hit with a foul ball while buying a beer.

The “baseball rule” was extended in late 2005 when a three-judge panel ruled that the Philadelphia Phillies were not to be held liable for an injury a fan received when outfielder Marlon Byrd tossed a dead ball into the stands. The court ruled that even while the play was over, the fans were still expected to be alert.

While balls are dangerous, perhaps the biggest cause of injuries — to fans, coaches, and players alike — has been maple bats.

The term “broken-bat single” has become very common these days and almost every player in the league has at least three bats in the dugout at any given time. Before 2001, maple bats were almost unheard of, until Barry Bonds used one to become the first player to hit 73 home runs in a season.

Now, almost 50 percent of all players sport maple bats.

Whether an actual or physiological advantage, players around the league love maple bats. Some claim maple is harder than the traditional ash bats, and they could be right. A study done by the Baseball Research Center at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell revealed that ash bats crack while maple bats snap.

This snapping is not only costly to the bat, but to fans, coaches and players in close proximity. Pittsburgh Pirates’ hitting coach Don Long found that out the hard way, getting whipped by 30 inches of maple in a game on April 15, 2008. Long was simply sitting in the dugout trying to track a line drive off the bat of Nate McLouth when the bat sliced through a muscle in his cheek, severing nerves and injecting dozens of splinters under the skin. Ten stitches were required to patch up the bloody mess.

In the summer of last year, umpire Brian O’Nora also fell victim to the destructiveness of shattered bats. In the bottom of the second inning, Miguel Olivo broke the barrel off his bat, which sailed into the home-plate umpire’s left ear. He left the game and was admitted into a local hospital.

Ironically enough, the incident involving O’Nora took place just hours after representatives of Major League Baseball and the Players’ Association met to negotiate changes involving maple bats.

The two parties originally met to negotiate policy changes in 2006, but were interrupted by the release of the highly controversial Mitchell Report. They then established a committee to address the issue and assured baseball fans that changes would be made.

Several injuries later, very little has changed.

The changes that were introduced this season involved new regulations on the slope and orientation of maple bats, as well as improving the traceability of each bat. Major League Baseball also reserved the right to regularly visit baseball bat manufacturers to make sure they were abiding by the new rules.

It is still too early to tell if the new changes will have any impact, but there is no doubt that the issue has the attention of commissioner Bud Selig. He called the maple bat situation “one of the game’s most pressing issues.”

Just 10 days after Long was injured in the cheek Susan Rhodes also suffered an injury because of a maple bat. On April 25 of last year, Rhodes found herself four rows behind the visitor’s dugout at Dodger Stadium when the barrel of Todd Helton’s bat (borrowed from teammate Troy Tulowitzki) knocked her unconscious — and broke her jaw in several places.

After her surgery Rhodes found a $7,000 medical bill in her mail; and because of the “baseball rule” any lawsuits she files against the Dodgers or manufacturer of the bat will fall upon deaf ears.

Maple bats may help the ball travel farther and faster, but anything that puts fans at this much risk should be re-evaluated. No one wants to read the “Death by flying maple bat” story that seems to be just around the corner.

Andrew Kneeland will be a junior at Sahuarita High School. He is an intern at the Green Valley News.