

In 2009, MLB conducted a study due to the amount of broken Maple bats. (d) No colored bat may be used in a professional game unless approved by the Rules Committee.MLB Maple bat controversy NOTE: If the umpire discovers that the bat does not conform to (c) above until a time during or after which the bat has been used in play, it shall not be grounds for declaring the batter out, or ejected from the game. Any such material or substance, which extends past the 18 inch limitation, shall cause the bat to be removed from the game. (c) The bat handle, for not more than 18 inches from its end, may be covered or treated with any material or substance to improve the grip.

The indentation must be curved with no foreign substance added. An indentation in the end of the bat up to one inch in depth is permitted and may be no wider than two inches and no less than one inch in diameter. NOTE: No laminated or experimental bats shall be used in a professional game (either championship season or exhibition games) until the manufacturer has secured approval from the Rules Committee of his design and methods of manufacture. The bat shall be one piece of solid wood. Though dozens of fans at big league ballparks are struck by foul balls each season, there has been only one fatality, according to baseball researchers – a 14-year-old boy killed by a foul line drive off the bat of Manny Mota at Dodger Stadium in 1970.(a) The bat shall be a smooth, round stick not more than 2.61 inches in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches in length. Multi-piece bat failures are down about 50% since the beginning of the 2009 season, MLB spokesman Michael Teevan said. After she was injured, the man tended to her while other people tried to console the distraught child.Ĭoncerned about a rash of flying broken bats and the danger they posed, Major League Baseball studied the issue in 2008 and implemented a series of changes to bat regulations for the following season. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that.” Mr Merlis said the woman had been sitting with a small child and a man. “It was violent,” he said of the impact to the woman’s forehead and top of her head.


Ms Carpenter was bleeding from the head as she was wheeled from the field on a stretcher.Īlex Merlis, of Brookline, Massachusetts, said he was sitting in the row behind the woman when the broken bat flew into the seats just a few rows from the field between home plate and the third base dugout.
