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Big-league bat debate: Maple vs. ash

Ban unlikely, but many concerned about dangers of maple bats

By Gerry Fraley, Special to the Rocky

Published June 22, 2008 at 11:14 p.m.

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Maple bats, because they are dry and brittle, tend to meet with an explosive ending, with sharp pieces flying all over the field, while ash bats usually expire more quietly.

Doug Pensinger / Getty Images

Maple bats, because they are dry and brittle, tend to meet with an explosive ending, with sharp pieces flying all over the field, while ash bats usually expire more quietly.

Ash or Maple?

MAPLE: Omar Quintanilla, Rockies

* Why? "I used it in the minors. It's a harder wood. This year, lately, I've been breaking a lot of maple bats. On some of them I've been getting jammed, but some I hit them on the barrel and they break."

* Biggest difference between maple and ash: "Maple just has that hard coating on it and it's a harder wood. When it breaks, it really breaks. With ash, it doesn't break into too many pieces."

* On the trend toward maple: "I've seen a lot of the guys use maple. It's your preference, whatever bat you like. That's your job, and that's part of your tools."

ASH: Brad Hawpe, Rockies

* Why? "Ninety-five percent of the time I swing with an ash. Probably a lot of guys these days are swinging (maple) because they swung with them all through the minor leagues. For me, it was whatever I could get. In the minor leagues, making 800 bucks a month, you can't go out and spend $100 on each bat. You swing whatever you can get, unless you're a first-round guy."

* Biggest difference between maple and ash: "Ash is louder. When they break, you know it's broken. Maple, sometimes you break inside and you don't know until your next AB when they blow up."

* Have you ever tried maple in game?: "Yeah, but like I said, it's ash 95 percent of the time."

Bat Man

Keith Schulz, Rockies director of clubhouse operations, is in charge of ordering bats.

* On cost of ash vs. maple: "This probably sounds terrible, but I don't necessarily know the cost. But I know, budgetwise, if I could order ash, I would. Ash is less expensive than the maple. The difference to me is what the guys want. Statistically, I can't say this for sure, but it seems like the maple bats are breaking more often. As the equipment guy, I order what they want. I don't make decisions based on what I might think is better or more economical."

* On trends of what type bat players prefer: "I've only been doing it four years on our side, and over those four years we've gone from primarily ash to primarily maple. So that's a big change. . . . Maple is just the bat of choice. How and why, I'm not sure. I don't know if a maple gives a guy more power than ash."

* On other trends: "With bats, it's crazy. I remember my first year, we were primarily a Rawlings bat team. Now I'd guess we're 80 percent Louisville Slugger. And next year that could change."

* On the difference in how bats break: "When the maples break, they tend to break in half. Whereas the ash, when they break, they tend to stay together. That, anybody can see."

For the Rockies, maple, top, has overtaken ash as the more popular bat to use, according to Keith Schulz, the director of clubhouse operations, who says ash bats are cheaper.

Ken Papaleo / The Rocky

For the Rockies, maple, top, has overtaken ash as the more popular bat to use, according to Keith Schulz, the director of clubhouse operations, who says ash bats are cheaper.

How They Match Up

Maple

* Harder than ash (surface hardness is about 20 percent greater than ash) .

* Costs about $10 more than comparable ash bat.

* More resistant to splintering than ash.

* When it does break, often shatters into large pieces.

* Some players believe maple more closely replicates the qualities of aluminum bats.

* Manny Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano,

* Albert Pujols, David Ortiz

* Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs in 2001 with a 33-ounce maple bat.

Ash

* Lighter than comparable maple bats.

* Costs about $10 less than comparable maple bat.

* Wide range of models at the same bat weight.

* Splinters rather than shatters, posing less danger to players and fans.

* Flexes, so there is a trampoline effect when the ball is hit.

* Alex Rodriguez, Jose Reyes, Scott Rolen,

* Derek Jeter

* Mark McGwire hit 70 home runs in 1998 with a 35-ounce ash bat.

Johnny Damon of the New York Yankees recently made an important career decision.

He dumped his supply of maple bats and went back to the traditional ash models. Beating the rush, Damon explained. He wanted to be prepared should Major League Baseball ban maple bats.

Damon is an alarmist. Changes in bats are coming, but they won't trigger panic at the bat rack by maple advocates.

The rate at which maple bats break and the danger caused by the shrapnel has become an issue that reaches all the way to the office of commissioner Bud Selig.

In a meeting Tuesday in New York, the 16-member Health and Safety Committee, split evenly between management and the Major League Baseball Players Association, will consider the merits and drawbacks of maple bats. The committee's work could lead to a change in bat specifications, but this doesn't signal the beginning of the end for the rock-hard maple bats.

"You have to decide if there is a problem before you act," said Kansas City Royals assistant general manager Dean Taylor, who is on the committee. "We have a lot of information to consider on this. We don't want to do anything rash."

Because equipment falls under the basic agreement, the union must approve any changes with bats. Union officials declined interview requests, saying they wanted to hear management's position before commenting. There doesn't appear to be a movement among players to ban maple bats.

"Is something going to be done about it?" asked Philadelphia player representative Jimmy Rollins. "I doubt it."

Bonds influence

A primer on maple bats:

They became all the rage in 2001, when Barry Bonds used maple bats throughout his record-setting 73-home run season. At the same time, bat manufacturers reported thinning crops of ash.

Suddenly, everyone wanted a maple bat. Estimates vary, but it is believed about 60 percent of players, including prominent sluggers such as Boston's Manny Ramirez and David "Big Papi" Ortiz, use maple at least some of the time. Some players go back and forth between maple and ash.

"I asked some of these guys who wanted maple, 'Do you think you're going to hit 70 homers like Barry?' " Texas Rangers equipment manager Zack Minasian said. "But they wanted them."

Players liked the sound of the baseball coming off maple and came to believe the new bats allowed them to hit for more power.

A study in 2005 by Dr. James Sherwood of the Baseball Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell found no evidence that a baseball hit by a maple bat carried farther than an ash bat-struck baseball.

No warning

There is a dark side to maple bats.

Ash bats tend to splinter and expire quietly. Maple bats meet a more explosive ending, with large and jagged pieces filling the air. The broken pieces usually have a sharp, bayonetlike edge. Rollins called them "javelins."

Broken maple bats caused at least two injuries in April. Pittsburgh batting coach Don Long needed 10 stitches to close a wound and suffered nerve damage after being hit in the face by the shattered bat of one of his players, Nate McLouth.

A spectator at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Susan Rhodes, suffered a concussion and facial injuries in April when hit by a shard from the bat of Rockies first baseman Todd Helton.

Other players, mostly pitchers, have come up limping after being struck in the lower body. Many people in the game fear a more devastating injury, to a player or a customer.

Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel expressed concern about the welfare of spectators and said baseball should consider the Japanese model of extending protective screening well beyond the seats nearest home plate.

"You see it every night, bat heads flying across the field," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "It seems like there's a problem. If there is, I hope they do something about it."

The consistency of maple causes some of the problem.

To get its weight into a workable range, maple is kiln dried to remove moisture. As a result, maple is bone dry and brittle. Ash bats retain moisture, one reason they tend to splinter when breaking.

Players often know when an ash bat is about to fail by tapping it on the ground. Hear a bad sound, and the bat leaves the game. Maple bats don't offer the same early warning system.

Maple advocates defend their product.

"People are jumping to conclusions and lumping every bat company into the problem," said Jim Anderson, vice president with MaxBat, which boasts a trademarked slogan of "Our Maple Kicks Ash."

The demands of hitters are a factor, too.

Bonds choked up, but that trend didn't catch on with his peers. Most want a bat, ash or maple, that resembles a thoroughbred racehorse: a thick barrel supported by a thin handle to help create bat speed. Hitters hold the bat at the knob, increasing the stress on the handle.

Under those specifications, broken bats are inevitable.

"Baseball has always had broken bats flying at somebody," said Rollins, the reigning National League Most Valuable Player. "Has it been more apparent recently? Probably. When it becomes a headline, then it becomes an issue."

Heavier bats

Discussions between management and the union are more likely to produce a change in bat specifications than a ban on maple.

There would be a decrease from the current maximums of a 2 3/4- inch diameter for the barrel and a 3 1/2-ounce "weight drop," which is the difference of inches in length minus weight in ounces. For example, a 34-inch, 30 1/2- ounce bat currently is allowable.

There will also be discussion of increasing the required thickness of handles from the current minimum of 16/19ths of an inch. Thin handles have become increasingly popular as players demand lighter bats with bigger heads. Thin handles increase the portion of the bat under stress.

Manuel was asked if bat changes would affect hitters.

"Only if they can't hit," he said.

The issue is the bat, not the batter.

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