A Move to Ban Aluminum Bats in New Jersey

TRENTON, June 22 — A New Jersey lawmaker introduced a bill on Thursday that would prohibit the use of metal bats in youth and high school baseball leagues.

The bill comes less than three weeks after a 12-year-old pitcher from Wayne was seriously injured when he was hit in the chest by a line drive.

The pitcher, Steven Domalewski, was knocked down, and his heart stopped for a few minutes. After Steven was revived on the field, he was taken to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson. He remains in a medically induced coma, using a feeding tube, and awaiting a CAT scan to determine when he should be awakened.

The ball that struck Steven was hit with an aluminum bat, a standard sight in youth leagues, high school and college baseball. Aluminum bats have long been popular with players and coaches because they are lighter and yield faster swings. But their use also means that players on defense have less time to react to a ball hit directly at them.

Under the bill introduced on Thursday by Assemblyman Patrick J. Diegnan Jr., a Democrat from Middlesex County, wooden bats would be required in all leagues with players under age 18. The only exception would be for a game in which the visiting team is from out of state.

“It is time to do away with the hollow ping and the increased risk of injury aluminum bats brought to New Jersey’s ball fields,” Mr. Diegnan said in a statement.

There is no companion bill yet in the Senate. But if the bill does make it into law, New Jersey would apparently have the most far-reaching law in prohibiting the use of metal bats, Mr. Diegnan said.

Source: The New York Times