Metal Bats in Major League Baseball

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Metal Bats in Major League Baseball
Since the inception of the first Major League Baseball (MLB) game, played on May 4, 1871, bats made of wood have been the tradition in baseball. The creation of metal bats occurred in the 1920s, but not actually used in play until 1970 when they were introduced into Little League youth baseball. Even though all levels of players from children to professionals seemed to prefer the new metal bats, MLB prohibited their use. Safety, skill level of the players, cost, level of entertainment provided, and tradition are all arguments used in the controversy between whether Major League Baseball should allow metal bats or continue using wooden ones.
The safety of the players is the biggest concern in all levels of baseball. The belief that metal bats result in more injuries than wood contributes to the reasons MLB does not allow their use. One contribution to this belief is the difference in exit speed of the ball off the different bats. It was found that aluminum bats produce an average of 92.5 miles per hour exit speed, compared to wooden bats averaging an 88.6 miles per hour exit speed ("Baseball: Wooden Bats Vs. Metal Bats"). This is a difference of 3.85 miles per hour, which is significant considering the time it takes for players to react to a hit ball ("Baseball: Wooden Bats Vs. Metal Bats"). A study shows that it takes 0.4 seconds for a ball hit 93 miles per hour to travel 54 feet, and because the pitcher's mound lies at 60 feet-6 inches away from home plate, the pitcher has less than 0.03 seconds to react to a line drive hit to them (McDermott). While compared to the time it takes to blink an eye, 0.095 seconds, pitchers do not stand a chance against a line drive (McDermott). The use of met...

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...educing Broken Bats." Major League Baseball. MLB Advanced Media, 3 Aug. 2012. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. .
Russel, Daniel A. "Why Aluminum Bats Can Perform Better than Wood Bats." Why Aluminum Bats Perform Better than Wood Bats. Graduate Program in Acoustics The Pennsylvania State University, 18 Oct. 2006. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. .
"Science of Baseball: Aluminum vs. Wooden Bats | Exploratorium." Science of Baseball: Aluminum vs. Wooden Bats. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
St. John, Allen. "Should Metal Baseball Bats Be Banned?" Popular Mechanics. Hearst Communication, Inc, 18 May 2010. Web. 07 Mar. 2014.
White, Stu. "MLB: Fewer Broken Bats." FanSided MLB Fewer Broken Bats Thanks to US Forest Service Comments. N.p., 13 July 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.

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