"In the end, it's a question of safety," said Pennsylvania state Rep. Mike Carroll, who introduced a bill this month in the legislature that would make kids under 18 use only wood bats.
His proposal comes after the New York City Council passed a metal bat ban in high school games, to the chagrin of sporting goods companies and organizing bodies like USA Baseball and Little League Baseball. They say there is no evidence proving wood bats are safer than aluminum or composite bats.
"We think no injury is acceptable," said Little League president Stephen Keener, from his office overlooking the field where the Little League World Series is played each year with aluminum bats. "But at the same time, we'll never be able to regulate injuries out of the game."
That hasn't kept some state lawmakers and administrators from taking a closer look at metal bats.
New Jersey legislators have been considering a proposal similar to the one passed in New York City.
In North Dakota, high school baseball teams this year completed their first season playing entirely with wood bats _ the first state league to do so. Coaches supported the measure after growing weary of injuries caused by line drives smoked off aluminum bats.
Dave Carlsrud, assistant executive secretary of the North Dakota High School Activities Association, said "the consensus seems to be that it's safer.
"To old people, it sounds like baseball," he said.
Many supporters of a ban cite two accidents in recent years, including the death of 18-year-old Brandon Patch, who was struck in the temple by a baseball off of an aluminum bat in an American Legion game for Miles City, Mont., in 2003.
A 12-year-old boy in New Jersey went into cardiac arrest last summer after a line drive off a metal bat struck him in the chest in the millisecond between his heartbeats. The boy returned home from the hospital in February.
Opponents of a ban, including youth baseball organizations and manufacturers, say that such cases are rare. They cite several studies, such as 2002 findings from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, that conclude there is insufficient evidence to show nonwood bats pose greater risk of injury.
Little League allows local leagues and players to choose what bats they want to use. Rules in place since the early 1990s require that the best aluminum bats not be capable of hitting the ball any harder or faster than the best wood bats. High school associations have similar rules.
Critics of metal bat bans note that wood bats can shatter. Pitcher Rick Helling was impaled in his left arm by a piece of a broken bat while making a start for the Milwaukee Brewers' Triple-A affiliate on May 27, 2005. Helling was not badly injured and was able to make his next start.
But fans like Stanley Williams, a Little League coach for nearly three decades, point to tradition in favoring wood.
Metal bats, he said, can turn would-be one-hoppers into line drives in the gap. With wood, hitters learn to be more selective at the plate, he said. Players bunt more.
