by Ekim Seyer

Created on: July 04, 2008   Last Updated: July 14, 2008

It is estimated in any Major League Baseball game that at least five bats will splinter and become lethal projectiles careening at players, coaches, and fans. As of this writing Major League Baseball is looking into the matter. What does that mean? Those bats are breaking at an alarming rate and all they are doing is looking into the matter? By this time something should have been done, some rule should have been instituted. The paying publics best interest is and should be foremost in this matter.

Even though the entrance ticket tells the buyer that he, the fan, is responsible for his own safety while being entertained by said M.L. B.B. game, nothing is said about sharp pointy flying objects coming at him to pierce the body. Baseball is a great sport but not worth being impaled to watch it live and in person. It is bad enough to be on the look out for speeding baseballs coming at you on the First and Third base lines, but to include broken bats with sharp splinters, well, that is uncalled for. The longer that Major League Baseball takes to find a solution, the more projectiles the players and fans are going to have to dodge and in the end some judge will rule against M.L.B.B. and it will cost them millions of dollars to rectify an overblown problem, which has an easy fix.

Here-in is my proposal to fix the broken bat problem that is haunting M.L.B.B. Straight from the factory have all the bats "TAPED". The tape should be a good quality duct tape. Tape the bat from the knob all the way up to the barrel. If it is done at the factory, the tape should be wound as tight as can possibly be done without breaking the seam of the tape. On top of that, place another winding of electricians tape, covering the first layer of duct tape. With the tape in place, what will happen is when the bat breaks it will not shatter into pieces, but all the splinters will be held in place by the duct tape. The bat might break in half, or the barrel might separate from the handle, but it will not go flying very far off like into the stands or at the players. More than likely the barrel will just slide out unto the ground around the batters box, for a big strike. The top layer of tape could be ordered in the colors of the team to keep the uniform factor. The players at first will complain that the tape is getting in the way when hitting the ball off of the handle and deadening the ball, but the results will outway the alternative and the point will become mute, because it will happen to all batters not just some.

The only reason baseball bats are breaking so much is because the players are allowed to order the bats with barely adequate handles and oversized sweet spot barrels. When the batter swings, the handle cannot disperse the pressure being put on it by the swing; and the heavy-ness of the barrel together with the swing, make for too much burden being put on an unbalanced bat handle. The arc of the swing unbalances the bat and therefore the bat breaks. If you remember from grade school the bending pencil trick, well, that is precisely what is happening to the bat, but at breakneck speed, with no give, and without tape to hold the pieces together, the splintered object goes careening at somebody.

So before a lawsuit comes flying at you, Major League Baseball, just tape it and avoid it. This is my easy fix for your lethal problem.

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