SoCalASABlue wrote:Careful, Tumblebug. Remember what Sam has previously posted:
"Mine has been hit twice by your bats..." It's not often that inanimate objects not controlled by a human being hit the same player twice...may be a new lawsuit in the works...
And before the inevitable question, yes, my DD pitches...she wears a mask and her getting into proper fielding position after each pitch is overstressed to say the least...
I suppose that post sounds antagonistic. I don't really feel that way. I just hate the idea that I am somehow the bad guy because I make a legal product that the players want.
Let me tell you a story: I was at a Little League All Star game my son was playing in and a kid, playing third, was playing up for what his coach thought was going to be bunt. The hitter yanks one right at the third baseman who takes it off his melon. Dad comes up to me screaming how my bat's not safe and nobody should be allowed to use it. I let him vent cuz he's upset. Two innings later his son, who came back into the game, comes to the plate and you can guess what he is swinging. Yep, you guessed it. It was the exact same model Anderson bat that dad lit me up me for and his son is twenty pounds heavier than the kid that hit him. I never got an apology for being screamed at.
I always wonder what bats the crusaders use. I don't wish harm on anyone but nobody joins the safety crusade unless they or someone they know were unlucky enough to be in harms way when the the probability strikes.
The report someone referenced talked about 106k softball injuries in a year. Do you realize how small that number is when you consider the number of player, in the number of game, in the number of at-bats?
We did an independent study on softball injuries that combined the numbers available form many sources. The study included the thirty years before aluminum and the thirty years after. The numbers get tiny when you only look at the injuries that involved a batted ball, approximately 2 percent. The biggest number were hurt base running. Three times as many kids are injured by a thrown ball than a hit ball. There was a bigger incidence of batters hitting themselves with a batted ball than them hitting others. Softball is actually statistically safer than baseball and baseball is pretty doggone safe, which kinda puts a kink in the softball is more dangerous argument. No matter what logic I use I end up defending myself from the crusaders and the crusaders are usually using my bat too.
So I think it's a fair question: What bat does your DD use?
Before you ask, I won't publish the internal documents that we compiled here or anywhere else. The numbers overwhelmingly support my position but I was trying to establish a personal and company position on the matter. I do not want to become the source for that kind of information for either side of the argument. There are plenty of places for someone who is interested to do the footwork themselves and come to their own conclusions. The organizing bodies of the game and the federal government are the places I usually quote. I did enough work to convince myself that the number didn't rise, that the game is safe and to feel good about what I do. That is all it was intended for. I doubt we even have it anymore. I believe we gave it all up for someone's thesis. It's all findable in other places.
