Baseball purists rejoice!
The wood bat is slowly, but surely, making a comeback.
To be sure, aluminum is still very much a part of the amateurgame, but not as much today as it was yesterday. If the current trendcontinues, not as much tomorrow as it is today.
The latest to bid the aluminum bat adieu is the Intercity League,which numbers among its 10 teams the Lexington Blue Sox, the LowellBraves, and the Andre Chiefs and DiGiacomo Club, both of Medford. Theunanimous vote by the league's five-member board of directors finallyputs to rest what had been an ongoing discussion for the past fouryears, amid concerns about injuries caused by the speed at whichbaseballs fly off an aluminum bat.
For 26 years - from its inception in 1950 to 1975 - the IntercityLeague swatted the ball with wood bats. Then it switched to aluminum.Now, after 26 years of ping, it's going back to wood.
'The switch is not something we took lightly,' said Lexingtongeneral manager and board member Rick DeAngelis. 'We've been talkingabout it for four years. There was no rush to make a quick judgmentfor or against. It was always on the agenda whenever the board orteam managers met.'
During the past five years, the Cape Cod, Park, Yawkey, Cranberry,and New England Collegiate Baseball leagues all returned to wood.This season, schools in the Greater Boston League, in which Medfordand Arlington play, the Bay State League, and the Big 3 have done thesame.
And the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association sportsmedical committee is pushing for a return to wood. The association,which governs high school sports, will entertain a motion at its Oct.21 baseball meeting that wood bats be used in all state tournamentgames in 2003. If that passes, wood bats will probably becomemandatory starting in 2004.
But that's not going to make everybody happy.
'Our coaches in the Cape Ann League love the aluminum bats,' saidNorth Andover athletic director Jack Stephenson. 'They voted 13-0 tokeep them.'
Add finances to the mix, and the Massachusetts InterscholasticAthletic Association is in for a lively debate. How do you tell acash-strapped athletic director to dish out $40 for a wood bat thatcan break with one swing? Break a couple of bats a game over thecourse of the season and athletic directors are beginning to see redink. They will argue that they may spend up to $1,200 for sixaluminum bats, but that those bats will last for years.
Even the NCAA is rethinking its stance.
Recent studies showed that a wood bat swung at 70 miles per hourat a pitch thrown at 70 miles per hour generated an exit speed of 93miles per hour. Using the same speeds with an aluminum bat, the exitspeed climbed to 100 miles per hour. As a result of that study and arash of injuries from batted balls, the NCAA adopted rules statingthat aluminum bats must be lighter and thinner and more similar towood bats.
The risk of injury entered into the Intercity League's decision.
'We've been fortunate not to have had too many injuries, but wehave had some,' said DeAngelis. 'We've had pitchers hit with linedrives and we've had some spectators hit that just weren't able toreact fast enough to a foul ball. But we studied the switch verydeliberately and looked at it from all perspectives. In the end, wefelt the time to switch was now.'
The use of wood bats won't be totally new for some IntercityLeague teams.
Four teams - Lowell, Lexington, and Anthony's Athletics and theGuinness Club, both of Malden - had gentlemen's agreements lastseason that when they played each other, wood bats would be used.And, in DeAngelis's preseason Tournament of Champions, wood has beenthe bat of choice.
'Players realized they could swing a wood bat effectively,'DeAngelis said. 'Maybe they wouldn't hit as many home runs, but thegood hitters showed that they could hit just as effectively with woodas they could with aluminum.'
DeAngelis, a former All-America infielder at Holy Cross andlongtime Lexington sports activist, said that once the word got out,the reaction was positive.
'There has been a complete endorsement from everyone I spoke toabout the switch,' said DeAngelis, 'including some college coacheswho demand that their players compete in a wood bat league. [Harvardcoach] Joe Walsh and [Boston College coach] Peter Hughes areenthusiastic about it. And so are the players because, while theymight not admit it, they are baseball purists, and they want to playthe game in the purest form. They know that's with wood.
'There was a general feeling among the board and the managers thatwe needed to return the amateur game to wood, that we needed to movethe game forward and play it the way it was meant to be played. Thewood bat will put the strategy back on defense, pitching, hit andrun, bunting, and other offensive execution. With the aluminum bat,it seemed that you'd just sit back and wait for the rocket shots toleave the park.'
With that brand of baseball, DeAngelis expects the Major Leaguescouts to come flocking back to Intercity League games. Most of thescouts have stayed away in recent years, said DeAngelis, because ifthey wanted to see potential pro players, they would go see them atNew England Collegiate Baseball League or Cape Cod League games,where wood was used.
Chuck Andre, owner of the Andre Chiefs and a member of theIntercity League board of directors, said he is anxiously awaitingthe start of the season.
'For the most part, we are going to have a lot of players thathave never swung any other bat than aluminum,' he said. 'Wood willmake it a different game. As a former pitcher, I welcome the change.I think we are going to see the game played in its purest form. Asfar as the offensive output goes, I'll take a wait-and-see attitude.My team has always hit a ton of home runs during the course of theseason. It will be interesting to see if we can still hit as manyusing wood.'
Former Andover High, Rollins, and University of Connecticut starBrian Tisbert has played with a wood bat only in two seasons - bothin the New England Collegiate Baseball League.
'Playing with wood makes you concentrate more,' said Tisbert. 'It's more difficult to hit the sweet spot on wood than on aluminum.You can hit the ball just about anywhere on an aluminum bat and itwill come off the bat fast. With wood, you're facing more of achallenge, but it should be more rewarding when you do well.'
It's often been said that aluminum bats turn bad swings into goodswings and good swings into great swings.
Now, though, as DeAngelis says, 'you'll have to earn what youget.'
John Vellante can be reached at JohnPVel@aol.com.
