Interscholastic activities; exclusive use of wood baseball bats. (HB273)

Really, this should be a matter of law?

I didn't use it, but the WTF tag is quite appropriate.

Wow, what one, single organization is this targeting? Note the "founded in ... 1913"

I hope this is a joke of some sort.

I believe that the state is prohibited from passing laws designed to affect a single private organization. (Recall that Maryland's "Wal-Mart Law," requiring them to provide health care, was written to apply only to private retail employers with more than X employees and Y locations. Wal-Mart was, of course, the only company to whom the law applied.) So when laws are passed, they look like this. Pretty bizarre.

Anyhow, this rang a bell with me. I spoke to a group about blogging a year ago, and one of the folks in the audience ran some state high school athletic organization. Turns out that's it -- the Virginia High School League, HQd here in Charlottesville.

If the General Assembly is charged with VHSL governance, then these types of things are totally appropriate, but as long as they're not, then this bill should die. I'd love to see the VHSL address the "steroid" issue with regards to HS athletics in the state. Mandating wood bats should be a "rules of the game" issue, not a law.

I think the bill is intended to target the safety of high schoolers who currently play baseball and softball. With the speed at which balls come off metal bats, this is very appropriate.

The VHSL should be able to make this determination without being compelled by government. Kill the bill.

The GA has no business getting into making rules for sports and once it starts it will not stop. Look for "laws" that deal with scoring. "Laws" that deal with squad sizes, playing time and diversication on teams as a matter of law. There has not been any evidence that serious injuries have occurred due to metal bats. Last year one coach was killed from a ball off a wood bat. Now MLB wants coaches to wear some form of helmet when coaching but the coach killed wasn't hit in the head. Soon we will have a law as to how old a base coach can be to make sure older coaches are not in harms way. Bad Law......The Va. GA should stick to laws like banning replicas of male genitals on vehicles.

Do I think the ball jumps off composite bats faster than wood - yes. Does it matter a lick to kids that have used them their entire lives? not one bit. Lest we forget, wood bats break - a lot. Most these kids are paying a couple (2-300) hundred dollars for a metal bat and it will last them a year or more. A decent wood bat is 40-50 dollars and a player will break 6-8 of them in the same time frame. In a recent wood bat game, I saw three kids lose wood bats in one inning. Keep in mind - the younger the player the more likely they are to hit a ball off the handle, resulting in more broken bats. Why not start this crusade with the colleges? - better, stronger hitters that would benefit from having to use wood if they wanted to continue after college. Yes, HS kids are bigger than they used to be, but they really aren't creating a dangerous situation by using a metal bat.

I assume that some pitcher was hit by a batted ball off a metal bat and suffered a head injury. I'm surprised they are not calling this Ted's Law or whoever got hit. But I really do hate hearing that awful "ping". Bring back the crack of the bat.

"Wait'll next year" is another way of saying this bill was withdrawn.