Controversy over “Sam Bats”

The problem of using maple bats over ash bats is covered in a good piece at Yahoo Sports. Evidently, they break differently and are inherently more dangerous than ash bats once they do.

About two or three times a game. players swinging bats made of maple wood end up with kindling in their hands while the barrel – blunt and thick on one end, splintered and sharp on the other – flies every which direction. Pitchers and middle infielders stand in the greatest line of fire and do their best acrobat imitations to avoid the remnants. On occasion, the shard will land in the stands and harm a fan. And sometimes, as it did in the case of Long, it will wind up in the dugout.

Baseball at breaking point over maple bats