2004

"The manufac urers make it clear: They come out •• ew bats every year, anc! -the y 'r better, they're hott r than the prev1ous year's model. That means that more and more of our players are at risk." -Jimmy Hinton, concerned parent

Elliot Hopkins, baseball rules edi– tor for the National High School Fed– eration, says the Indianapolis-based organizationwrites the rules annually for approximately 380,000 baseball players nationwide. He says reported injuries are lowcompared to the num– ber ofparticipants involved. "I might have heard of five or six cases a year where a kidwas seriously injured," Hopkins said. "If you look at the number of kids that play ball, that is a very small number "No less, we're still concerned about it, because we don't want any Child to get hurt." To Jiuuny Hinton, the solution is i.mple· the bat manufacturers should make bats that do not generate so much ball peed. Metal bats, he main– tains, can be made so that they gener– ate a ball speed that is equal to awood– enb

ball. "Any parentwould be. "At the same time, that's John's Jove. Hewants to play ball. "He's the type that if he falls down, he'll get up, brush it offand go again." John Fortenberry was fortunate to be able to get up again, according to Daniel Kim, Fortenberry's surgeon. "If hewouldhave turned his head a little to the left and it hit himabout 3 inches higher, he may have died," said Kim, director of oculoplastic and orbital surgery at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. "There's a soft spot there (the temple), and it's not good to get hit on it. •This y.a-. probably maximum \elocity. It v;a::-full impact. "It crushed his cheekbone. It exploded his eyeball, because all of that force was transmitted. Itbrokehis cheek in three places and moved it back and down. It took a lot of energy to pop it back out. •It reminded me of a high-<:peed

"That was the way that the game \\'aS de igned to be played," Hinton said. mot or vehicle acci- ___,_.........-..--...........,...,....,.....-,..,......_......._.....--_ dent." The episode has Kim

fearful that his 12-year– old daughter, Rebecca, could be hurt playing softball. "If someone can be physically maimed playing a recreational sport by the equipment, I think that's a shame," he said. "I don't think that it's humanly possi– ble to react to the ball coming off the (alu– minum) bats. "To me, for the safety ofthe sport, if they used thewooden bats, I think the scores wouldbe low– er, but I think it's well worth it." Proctor predicts that because of the safety concerns high school players will one day use wooden bats again. "I wouldn't be sur· prised if the colleges went to wood bats pret– ty soon," Proctor said. "That would help the high schools (convert towood)."

J D. Schwalm TheOarlon·Ledger Metal bat prices run the gamut on today'smarket, but it's common to seeprices in the $250·$300 range as manufacturers produce hottermodels year by year