A tragic accident in a High School baseball game that sent a pitcher into a coma after being hit in the head from a batted ball has created quite a stir against the use of aluminum bats. The school and its opponent have agreed to use wooden bats in their next game.

The use of aluminum bats in high schools and colleges has always concerned me. Major League Baseball does not allow aluminum bats and only uses wooden bats. However, high schools and colleges all across the land use this deadly weapon all because of economical reasons. T-Ball and Little Leagues also use these thunder sticks.Yes, wood costs more in the long run, but I’m sorry, you cannot put a price on the safety of our children. I hope this will lead to a more thorough investigation on the safety of wood vs aluminum bats. There are studies with wildly opposing results so it all depends which report you read. We need an unbiased analysis on this subject matter and quick.

Besides potentially being safer to use, wooden bats would also better prepare youngsters for minor league and major league play which only uses wooden bats. Having played with both types of bats I can tell you it makes a tremendous difference in hitting. It also changes the way you field the ball because of the incredible speed of the ball coming off the metal bat.

Here’s a short video about the horrific accident that might actually help change a decades long travesty. As fathers, I highly recommend that we discuss this with our little league coaches and league officials. Let’s talk to coaches and other dads and let’s see if we can make baseball as safe as possible before another one of our beloved children is hurt.

Editor’s Note: I toned down my obvious emotional involvement with this subject matter. I wrote this right after seeing the news footage of the boy that got hurt so I believe I was perhaps a little too upset to write about it rationally. All I know is that there is still too much confusion over the safety of aluminum bats vs wooden bats. If it turns out that they are equally dangerous, then so be it. I just want a consensus decision to be made.