posted on Monday, May 26, 2008 5:43 PM
by
Jim
Help wanted: The maple bat death toll project
In the
Chicago Tribune's article about the problems with maple bats Sunday, Jim Thome said the following:
White Sox designated hitter Jim Thome, who primarily uses maple bats,
acknowledges "breaking a lot, I mean a lot" of bats this season, maybe
an average of one every two or three games.
He broke two in
Sunday night's game alone.
Ever since a barrel of a bat landed in Matt Thornton's glove before the ball got there in
the third game of the season, I've been paying more and more attention to it. So I'd like to take it a step further and try to keep track of who's breaking bats, and how many are they shattering.
Starting tonight, I'm going to try my best to make a note of every broken bat occurrence by a White Sox hitter. But I won't be able to do it alone, so if you see a maple bat turn into an
UNCONTROLLABLE DEATH SPEAR from the hands of a White Sox hitter, make a mental or tangible note out of it and compare it to my notes after the game.
After tonight's game, I'll put a counter up on the right-hand side, where the smiling face of the Gentleman Masher currently resides, linking to a broken-bat log.