Over the past couple days a discussion over the legality of bamboo bats has been the center of many emails between NYCMBL managers, and guestbook posts on the league website. One side of the argument is that the NYCMBL is trying to do everything in its power to limit the costs of its members. Baseball bats are expensive, and unfortunately many break pretty easily. Bamboo gives the players a product that not only provides solid wood, but also provides longevity. For the past two years the NYCMBL has allowed the use of composite bats, and has faced very little opposition in doing so. By many accounts composite bats are stronger than bamboo, so if you're going to allow one, why not the other. The other side of the argument is that bamboo may provide an unfair competitive advantage over ash and maple bats. But is it an "advantage" if its available to both teams. The NYCMBL prides itself on playing by the old time rules and traditions of Americas past time. Does bamboo fit under that philosophy?
9 comments:
I would just like to go back to one of the original points of the this long discussion. If composite and bamboo bats are not allowed in the MLB and we pride ourselves of being a wood-only league trying to mimic the reality of Professional baseball as closely as possible then we should stick with some of the MLB's rules. We've already voted to play the game with some rules that don't exist in baseball (i.e. the EH, picther's can leave a game and come back 3 outs later, courtesy runners etc...), before we continue to get further away from the game of baseball lets try and reign in some rules that we can still vote on. Ash, maple bats that are allowed in the MLB should absolutely be allowed in our league but the one's that are illegal in baseball should be illegal here. Once again I say there must be a reason that those bats are not allowed in baseball, maybe its a competetive advantage issue. If that is the case then it only makes sense to not allow them in our league.
To go back to Joel's point about people having already purchased composite or bamboo bats. First of all they should have held off on buying any 'questionable bats' until a ruling was made, but if there is reason to believe that an overwhelming number of people have already purchased these types of bats we should give a grace period of some kind for the use of these bats. Perhaps bamboo and composite can be allowed until the AllStarBreak and then after that the league from then on will be limited to MLB rule bats only. In this way we can also try and measure the difference between the use of bamboo/composite vs only ash and maple and maybe have a more informed vote during next year's offseason (after we've seen with our own eyes what the differences, if any, are between the types of bats made of wood or grass....).
With this solution everyone gets to use their bats for half the year and if their composite or bamboo break, since they know they will have to switch anyway after July 4th, they will purchase bats that they know will be allowed for the rest of the year and years to come. And our vote next year on this discussion will have much more information behind it.
thanks for your time everyone,
Robert Perea- Gotham Athletics
Just so you know!
There was an argument for maple and hickory when it came out long ago before me. MLB had to adjust rules when people starting bringing in new types of wood.
What you can call that is natural progression and thats why bamboo is hot over the past few years in baseball. If you did'nt know, bamboo bats are not classified as a composites!
This is not MLB baseball, we are highly competetive, but I go out there to have fun too and dont mind a new wood being used as long as there is no competitive advantage. Plus bamboo has been BESR cerified for bamboo use and it has been found to have the same exit speed of a normal ash bat.
So if it has been researched, studied, tested then certified, then whats the argument! I dont think there is one.
The japanese have been using these bats for years and they dont out perform us except in the little leagues because their kids use bamboo like crazy over there allowing them to hit better durring games!
And just so you know the information is out there on bamboo bats, so you should research before you speak up. Dont mean to be harsh but people should know what there talking about before they open up.
I am partial to bamboo bats because we used them in high school for practice and they helped us hit better for games because they taught us how to use the barrel of the bat! If we hit them on the handle they did break and we were not hittting bombs all the time!
If we are all aloud to use them and the bats are all natural with no composites and there's no performance boost...Then I give it a the thumbs up :)
Obviously the MLB prohibits bamboo bats for a reason and this league tries to follow the MLB rules but it seems as though each year you guys drift farther and farther away. So go ahead and let players use bamboo bats. Next thing you know, people will be bitching that they want to use metal bats. It seems as though this league changes their mind a lot. You guys need to be firm in your decisions and make all decisions final. You are a very respectable league, but you are losing respect from a lot of outsiders because we see that you are very wishy-washy and go back on your word a lot. Players join your league because you guys are wood only, that's what makes the MBL unique. If you change to bamboo, you will lose some appeal.
And as for someone who said, "but players already bought bamboo bats, they can't afford to go buy new ones." Who cares. They should have known all the rules before joining the league. It looks very bad on the league officials if you take away what makes the league unique. You need to stick to your guns. If I find out that bamboo bats have been leagalized in the NYCMBL I will be extremely disappointed.
And anyone who says that bamboo gives no competitive edge is ignorant. Even Helen Keller can feel the vibrations when the ball is hit off bamboo. So for everyone who voted "no" in the poll on the nycmbl, stop lying. Just admit you're an ass who bought a bat before realizing that it wasn't leagal in the league.
Random you should play in the major leagues then if you dont like what most of us want to do here.
By the way bamboo is a type of wood so let it go. It's been tested for fools like you that it has no performance benefits! They are being cerfied by all baseball groups accross the country!
Some people dont like change, thank god the world is not run by people like you who are closed minded. People play in our league because its competetive and I think they do a great job by letting the players decide what they want!
It should be about the players and not about some stubborn jerks. If you open up your mind a little you will realize that the world doesnt revolve just around you.
I want to thank NYCMBL for letting us the players decide because if we want them in our league as a group, we should be aloud to use them!
RR18 Fellas it not a big problem there is nothing wrong with change MLB does it so there really is nothing wrong with using Bamboo bats or composite bats. Just play baseball. If the world ran out of trees do we stop playing baseball? I don't think so some genius would come up with something new and we would probably think he or she is a hero! Play ball stop crying there is no crying in baseball. I've tried them all to me the difference between wood and bamboo is the sound of the pop. That does not mean that one is better then the other. I do know that in the fall time the bamboo bats last longer in the cold then the maple or ash and even the regular bats. But thats it. Play ball fellas play ball
RR 18 change as changing rules in life that is what I meant just in case those of you thought that I was saying MLB allows Bamboo
To Bamboo or not to Bamboo is the question...WHERE IS THE ANSWER? the season is 3 weeks away, and were are still yet to know the outcome of this controversy. The way i see it...bamboo is made into alot of things wood is made into; floors, doors, desks. It is cleaned like wood, it is treated like wood, it looks like wood. How much of a competitive advantage could it cause?
If this league is WOOD only then bamboo should not be used. Bamboo is a grass not a wood. I also agree with the idea that the league was founded to be wood only as close to REAL baseball as possible- since being founded the league is moving farther and farther away from that promise- not just with bats but with rules as well- courtesy runner comes to mind.
Lets just play with Ash and Maple and whatever else the MLB allows and as the first comment says let there be a grace period of half the season where the other bats are allowed so those people who don't read the rules (and bought composite and bamboo) don't cry about spending the money for nothing. Also that guy makes another point- it'll be a great way to see the difference in the types of bats, see if there's any fall off in hitting production when we switch to just ash and maple etc...
yes of course it doesnt break and some ppl just want to buy a decent wooden bat and not have to pay 70-80 dollars everytiem they have a bad swing and or just break one
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