MLB Player Pierced in The Chest By Maple Bat

[trax1]

I was watching the Cubs game today when in the 2nd inning Cubs rookie Tyler Colvin was pierced in the chest by a broken bat when he was on 3rd base, it didn't look too serious at first when it happen, you could see some blood, but not all that much, turns out that it didn't just give him a scratch  but had pierced his chest, he's gonna be in the hospital for several days having a procedure to prevent a collapsed lung.  The bat that broke was a maple bat, which tend to break into larger pieces then the ash bats, maybe now after this MLB will finally ban maple bats, this was bound to happen sooner or later.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100919&content_id=14847072&vkey=news_chc&c_id=chc

[grizz441]

I doubt that will happen.  Most players prefer maple over ash  I'm sure even Tyler Colvin uses Maple bats.

[Masherbrum]

I was watching the Cubs game today when in the 2nd inning Cubs rookie Tyler Colvin was pierced in the chest by a broken bat when he was on 3rd base, it didn't look too serious at first when it happen, you could see some blood, but not all that much, turns out that it didn't just give him a scratch  but had pierced his chest, he's gonna be in the hospital for several days having a procedure to prevent a collapsed lung.  The bat that broke was a maple bat, which tend to break into larger pieces then the ash bats, maybe now after this MLB will finally ban maple bats, this was bound to happen sooner or later.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100919&content_id=14847072&vkey=news_chc&c_id=chc

No need to ban them, but Colvin should have been looking at the plate.    I'm glad he's recovering just fine though.   

[bravoa8]

Ouch the thought of projectiles piercing the upper body part just freaks me out hope he get's better.

[oakranger]

few inches higher and could be in bigger trouble if it penetrated into his neck.

[Saxman]

This has been an accident a LONG time coming. I kept saying that someone was going to get impaled, and looks like it finally happened.

Maple bats need to go away. Simple as that.

[eagl]

Players in other sports die all the time.  Baseball players just need to quit whining.  They can wear armor if they're so scared.

Come to think of it, more players have suffered severe injuries from being hit in the head with the ball than from being speared by exploding maple bats.  Therefore I think they should replace the regular baseball with an 8 inch diameter nerf ball.  The same goes for bowling...  How many wrist and foot injuries have been caused by heavy bowling balls?  Replace them with nerf, and no more injuries.

[curry1]

Players in other sports die all the time.  Baseball players just need to quit whining.  They can wear armor if they're so scared.

Come to think of it, more players have suffered severe injuries from being hit in the head with the ball than from being speared by exploding maple bats.  Therefore I think they should replace the regular baseball with an 8 inch diameter nerf ball.  The same goes for bowling...  How many wrist and foot injuries have been caused by heavy bowling balls?  Replace them with nerf, and no more injuries.

haha

[trax1]

More people then just Tyler Colvin have been injured from Maple bat breaks, this has just been the most serious, since about 2007 there have been debates about MLB banning the wood because of the danger it not only poses to the players but to the fans in the stands as well.  Players just started using maple bats in 2001 when Barry Bonds started using one, and there's no data that shows they hit any better then bats made of ash.  Just this year MLB put restrictions on certain types of maple wood used to make the bats because of the splintering problem, I'm just saying get rid of them all together before someone dies, the one that hit Colvin today was just inches from his heart. 

[curry1]

More people then just Tyler Colvin have been injured from Maple bat breaks, this has just been the most serious, since about 2007 there have been debates about MLB banning the wood because of the danger it not only poses to the players but to the fans in the stands as well.  Players just started using maple bats in 2001 when Barry Bonds started using one, and there's no data that shows they hit any better then bats made of ash.  Just this year MLB put restrictions on certain types of maple wood used to make the bats because of the splintering problem, I'm just saying get rid of them all together before someone dies, the one that hit Colvin today was just inches from his heart. 

MLB players make so much they could buy a new body

[eagl]

I'm just sayin that the exact same arguments can be made about the ball itself.  Fans get injured by balls hit into the stands all the time.  I saw an umpire get a broken face from a fastball tipped just barely enough to sail over the catcher's glove and into the umpire's face.  Catchers who don't use the neck guard risk having their throat crushed by a ball.  That ball is dangerous, and any player hit in the head with one is risking death.  Why continue with that sort of risk?

[trax1]

I'm just sayin that the exact same arguments can be made about the ball itself.  Fans get injured by balls hit into the stands all the time.  I saw an umpire get a broken face from a fastball tipped just barely enough to sail over the catcher's glove and into the umpire's face.  Catchers who don't use the neck guard risk having their throat crushed by a ball.  That ball is dangerous, and any player hit in the head with one is risking death.  Why continue with that sort of risk?

Yeah but this is something that can be easily prevented and wont effect play, in 2005 MLB & the players union commissioned a report that shows a maple bat hits no harder then one made of ash, and it's not like this is a type of bat thats really been used since the game started, before 2001 they were barely used,, so it's not a change that would effect the game at all, so the argument about changing the ball isn't that same, that would change the play of the game.  In 2008 Bud Selig said that the use of maple bats was one of the games most pressing issues.

[grizz441]

Yeah but this is something that can be easily prevented and wont effect play, in 2005 MLB & the players union commissioned a report that shows a maple bat hits no harder then one made of ash, and it's not like this is a type of bat thats really been used since the game started, before 2001 they were barely used,, so it's not a change that would effect the game at all, so the argument about changing the ball isn't that same, that would change the play of the game.  In 2008 Bud Selig said that the use of maple bats was one of the games most pressing issues.

Players will disagree.  Players prefer maple.  The thing is, the ball is magnitudes more dangerous than splintering maple bats.  Bat companies were supposed to rotate the grains 90 degrees a couple years ago to prevent projectiles launching outward IIRC.  I wonder if the bat castillo was using was set like that or if it was just some ghey minor league rule.  Either way, I don't think they should be banned.  This was just a freak thing and a similar situation might not happen for another 100 years.  Like a guy getting his throat sliced by another guy's skate in hockey.  It's just a freak accident.  Doesn't mean you are going to ban ice skates.

[grizz441]

Let the players union vote on it, preferably the position players, and if they want them banned, then so be it, but I don't anticipate that happening.

[trax1]

Let the players union vote on it, preferably the position players, and if they want them banned, then so be it, but I don't anticipate that happening.

Well it's not too much of a freak thing, in 2008 Pittsburgh Pirates hitting coach Don Long had his face seriously scared by a piece of a maple bat, the sharp end struck him in his left check slicing muscle & nerve and looks like a zipper now.  Again in 2008 a woman at a Rockies game who was in the stands was struck in the head with a large piece of a maple bat, these maple bats are going to end up killing someone someday and for what, because players mistakenly believe it gives them an advantage when studies have clearly shown they don't.  So just since these bats have become popular in the last few years there's already 3 instances of people getting hurt, Baseballs gonna be around for a long time and there's just gonna be more serious injuries.

Story on Don Long:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-maplebats050808

Story on Rockies fan:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-maplebats050808