Wooden bat decision controversial among coaches, players

NEW ULM - While the decision by the Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Association to go to wood bats for amateur baseball next season was unanimous, it has not been unanimously accepted by area baseball managers and players.

Fred Roufs,a member of the MSBA from Mankato, said that the change,which was passed 9-0 by the board on a motion from Roufs and a second from Marv Fiemeyer, said that their were a couple of factors that went into the decision.

"We had our annual meeting and it was discussed there (about the wood bats) and there were a lot of people in favor of wood bats," he said. "And a lot of them were just wondering what the best way to do it would be - do we just announce it and go with it, do we wait one year. But one of the factors was the safety factor (of aluminum bats). They have not been able to the exit speeds of the balls coming off the the aluminum bats and for the safety factor, that was the number one thing. The second thing that we considered is that the teams will continue to buy aluminum bats until we switch to wood. So even if we said that we are going to go to wood bats in two years, teans would still buy aluminum bats (for this year) that they could not use in two years."

Roufs said that the Class "A" teams in the Twin Cities had already voted to go to wood bats this upcoming season and that there were some leagues outside of the Metro that wanted to go to wood bats this year.' The Carver-Central League approached us about them going to wood bats immediately and there were a lot of wood bat tournaments already last year. There was some good success at those tournaments both in the style of ball that was played in the low number of cracked wood bats. Jordan has had a wood bat tournament for the past four years and they bring in Cold Spring and Hopkins amoung other teams. They bought 12 bats and cracked about three of them in a three day tournament. That was one of the reasons that we went to them right away plus until we say that,they will continue to buy aluminum bats."'

Roufs said that the MSBA "had discussed just changing it (wood bats) for our tournaments and playoffs for this year so they could use what they wanted during the regular year. But again they would be buying bats that would be obsolete and if they got into the tournaments, they would have to buy another set of bats. And if everybody wasn't using the wood batsm, it would be an unfair advantage."

He added that there was also a consensus that Class "B": this year would be going to wood bats.

"Class 'B' would go to wood bats this year and Class 'C' next year," Roufs said. "But we have some teans like the New Ulm Kaiserhoff that play in a split league (Ara Wilson East has both Class 'C' and Class 'B' teams). Then they would have to have two sets of bats for each league."

"I don't think that there was anyone against going back to wood bats - the whole idea of going to aluminum bats before was the cost factor. Now the aluminum bats are $200-300 a piece so if you buy four bats, you have over $1,000 tied up. And there is a composite bat that is supposed to cost somewhere between $80-$100 that will get 1,000 hits before it breaks down. It actually is supposed to be more durable than the aluminum bats; some aluminum bats did not have a warantee when it dropped below a certain temperature."

And he also felt that most playera are buying their own aluminum bats now "so they can still go out and buy their own wood bat for $20-$25. There are teams around the area like the Mankato Mashers who will sell bats to them."

"It was not an easy decision because of the cost factor. But we also had some comments from Class "C" teams that going to wood bats would make them more competitive with Class "B" teams because there would not be so many home runs. Now, the bunting and stealing comes into play more."

While the decision was unamimous on the state board's side, it was far from unaninous from area coaches and teams. Both Brewer manager Chris Peters and Kaiserhoff manager Brady Ranweiler felt that the change to wood bats would make a difference. "It will change our perspective and philosophy, Pitchers will have a good advantage. I only used wood bats once and I didbn't care for it."

Ranweiler said that it would "be exciting to change to wood bats. The hit and run will come into play more ." But Ranweiler added that the number of bats used could be huge.

Sleepy Eye manager Ralph Zwaschka is "absolutely opposed to it for many reasons. "Economically, it will hurt. A good quality wood bat costs around $50 and a good composite bat will cost. The past year, the (Tomahawk East) league voted to have teams, at their choice, play one wood bat game each. The league went out and bought 10 bats and after two games, there was one left. After those two games, there was one left."

Ranweiler agreed that breakage will happen. "In fall baseball at Mankato State, we tried using wood bats for intrasquad scrimmages. We played 12 games and in those 12 games,I myself broke eight bats."

Zwaschska added that " secondly, we have a game here that we are trying to sell to the fans . They come to games and want to see action; fans want to see scoring. From little on up, players have used aluminum bats. I asked state board members that they must think that baseball associations around the state have deep pockets to buy new bats again.. I told them that they were nuts for doing this. I could see a compromise in using wood bats to be used but do not take away the aluminum bat. How can you expect suppliers to keep wood bats on hand?'

Zwaschka said that he had talked to Brad Wieland of Nicklasson's in New Ulm and " Louisville and Rawlings told him that if teams do not have their wood bat order in by January (10th) for forget about getting them. If you can't get them initially, how can you get them later. Aluminum bats have a year guarantee. Brad said that with the wood bats, you break them, you pay for them."

As far as Roufs' comment about the "1,000 hits from a composite bat before it breaks down: Zwaschka said that those bats are not guaranteed.. This has taken about five steps backward in continuing the interest in amateur baseball., This is not going over at all."

Terry Helget of Essig said that the state board "never gave us any indication that this would happen. As far as Class "C" being competitive with Class "B". why do we want to be competitve with them? Are they (state board) planning on going to one class like it used to be. We used wood bats for our game last year and the quality was terrible and we ended up using aluminum bats again."

Winthrop manager Dana Melius feels that this decision is once again " a good old boys' making a stupid decision. Right now, it is bad move because we just bought uniforms last year and we are still paying bills from last year. We played one wood bat game last year and the quality of the bats were bad.. There should have been sone time before the change. Plus, there will be some younger players who will not play amateur baseball because of the wood bats. The younger generation loves the home run."

"I think that it is a good move,:"said Stark manager and Tomahawk East League president Myron Seidl. "The reason that the state did it was safety and this has been in the works for a few years. Class "A" went to wood bats and Class "B" wanted to. From my point of view, it is good.. It will even the playing field for everyone. As far as cost, you will get 10 bats a year for $300 and players can buy their own. This will bring the bunt back, etc."

Whether it will or not, one thing is for sure.

The decision has brought about a lot of talk.