Posted at 6:33 a.m., Monday, April 2, 2007
N.Y. mayor will veto bill to ban metal baseball bats
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Mayor Michael Bloomberg said today he'll veto a bill to ban metal bats from high school baseball in the nation's largest school system, a change that supporters say would make the game slower and safer.''I don't know whether aluminum bats are more dangerous or less dangerous,'' Bloomberg said. ''But I don't think it's the city's business to regulate that.''
It appeared, however, that the City Council would have enough votes to override a veto.
Similar measures have been proposed by youth leagues and lawmakers in other states, including New Jersey, where a batted ball struck a 12-year-old boy in the chest, sending him into cardiac arrest.
Sponsors of New York City's bill, passed last month, say that non-wood bats lead to faster and harder hits and that this can be dangerous for young players in the path of the balls.
Opponents, including Little League Baseball and sporting goods makers, say there is no scientific evidence proving metal bats pose more of a risk than wooden bats. They say the anti-metal movement relies on emotional anecdotes over concrete data, and some have indicated they will take the matter to court.
