Should Maple Bats be Banned?

During the 2008 season many players switched to bats made out of maple wood. And also in the 2008 season there was an increase in the number of bats being broken. But is the maple wood to blame? Yes the maple might be causing the bats to break more often but some experts believe that it is the model of the bats that is causing them to break. The model of the bat has more to do with the shattering of bats than the kind of wood used does. So it is likely that there won't be a ban on these bats but there will likely be specifications for the model of the bats. One thing they can change is the difference between the length and the weight of the bat. According to the MLB rules, bats can be no more than -3.5, which means the difference between the length in inches and the weight in ounces cannot be greater than 3.5.

Brian Hillerich, who is the owner of a bat company that makes the Louisville Slugger (type of bat typically used in the MLB), said this, "We've been told that they probably won't ban maple, that they will come up with some recommendations for changing what we do now."

Some of you might be saying why does it matter if player's bats break? The answer is because when a wooden bat breaks it sends little splinters of wood flying everywhere and it can be very dangerous to not only the players on the field but also to fans sitting in the stands. There were several of these incidents in the 2008 season where people were injured due to a shattered bat. A piece of the broken bat of the Pittsburgh Pirate's Nate McLouth hit coach Don Long in the face while he was standing in the dugout minding his own business.

Personally, I don't think maple bats should be banned because I don't think maple bats are any more breakable than the ash bats that were used before. I agree that they need to make some specifications for the bats such as handle width, barrel length, etc.