Annotated Bibliography

The game of baseball has been a part of my family for many years. It is a game that has taught me many lessons in life and has contributed to the character I have today. My family has a passion for baseball. I learned how to play the game from my dad. He taught me the rules, techniques, and how to play the game the right way. I started to play baseball when I was 6 years old and I have experienced many things in the game. Baseball has changed over the decades. Some of the rules have changed, the way the players play the game as changed, but these are just minor things. Baseball is still a game of love and passion. A game of respect and honor. Today, we see players are bigger and stronger than ever. The knowledge and technology we have today to improve the players skills and abilities is outstanding. In the early stages of the game, all they had was a bat and a ball to practice with over and over. Because of the increased talent and athleticism of todays players, the concern for the players safety has become a growing issue. Even the little league players are facing the same concern. This is why I question the use of aluminum bats versus the use of wood bats. Yes, there are many great advantages using aluminum bats, but I hope that my research will clearly show that the use of aluminum bats need to be reduced, if not completely done away with. There are many sources that are for and against the use of aluminum bats, but the majority of them are against. The issue concerning the game of baseball and the way it should be played, as well with the concern of the players safety should be the main focus for us all. Cantu Diana "Going, Going, Gone!: The Making Of A Baseball Bat." Technology & Engineering Teacher 72.2 (2012): 8-14. Professional Development Collection. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.

Cantu describes in detail the history and making of both wood bats and aluminum bats. She shares a story of a young boy that went to watch one of his favorite players which then became a story of the creation of the Louisville Slugger, one of most known bats today. The story of the Louisville Slugger began with seventeen-year-old John A. "Bud" Hillerich, who worked in his father's woodworking shop in Louisville, Kentucky in the 1880s. Bud, a passionate baseball player, left work one afternoon in 1884 to watch the Louisville Eclipse, a local baseball team. Pete Browning, one of the stars of the Louisville Eclipse, was in a hitting slump and broke his bat in frustration. Bud offered to make Pete a new bat. Bud and Pete went over to the shop, and Bud handcrafted a new wood bat from a long slab of wood using Browning's advice and specifications. The next game Pete broke his slump with three hits using the bat he and Bud created. Cantu then explains in detail the difference between ash and maple wood. She then gives great detail on how aluminum bats are made and how bat companies are now multimillion dollar companies. Cantu is very descriptive in the language she uses in her article. She has a lot of specific details about the difference between wood bats and aluminum bats. She did a great job adding an anecdote to the article with the story of the boy and baseball player who made what is now the top used bat in baseball. Cantu writes this in a conversational and informative language. Her goal was to inform the reader, not to persuade which one is better. Diana Cantu is a Ph.D. student at Old Dominion University studying Elementary STEM Education I feel this article will benefit my position paper because giving specific details on how each of the bats are made can show the reader that each one can be constructed in the best

possible way to reduce risk of injury in the game. In the past couple of years aluminum bats have already made changes to do this and the technology used will continue to make changes as necessary. I feel like this would be a good article to use to open my paper and give a good background of the history and making of the aluminum and wood bats. Crane, Cody. "Bats striking out: breaking bats and a wood-eating pest spell serious trouble for baseball." Science World 2009: 16. Academic OneFile. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. In the article written by Crane, he begins with a story of a baseball game where a bat broke and hit Coach Don Long in the face with the flying piece of wood. He had to leave due to a bloody gash and severing nerves in his left cheek. He then explains the difference between the ash bats and the maple bats used in the Major Leagues. He shows us that maple is more likely to break in pieces due to the grain in the wood, where ash is more likely to crack. He reviews a couple ways that Major League Baseball will crack down on this situation to reduce the amount of broken bats. Crane explains very well in easy conversational language the issue between the two types of wood bats. He organizes his thoughts very well giving us a clear explanation on both types and how the effect the game of baseball. I am not sure how much experience he has in baseball, but I feel that most of his credibility is only from the research he has done for his specific article. He uses logic as he explains an analysis done by the MLB that more than 2,200 bats were analyzed and from that was shown that maple bats are three times more likely to shatter than ash bats. Crane emphasizes the appeal of pathos as he begins with a story about a baseball game where a bat was broken and the broken piece flew into the dugout and hit a coach in the face. He was injured and had to leave the game. I really like how he grabs the attention of the audience, explains the issue, then finishes with the

ways the MLB has implemented to solve the issue. He writes it in such a way that we are able to easily understand what he is trying to say. The information given is still beneficial to us today. This article will be good for my paper because it explains that there is still a risk of using wood bats. It is important to know the advantages and disadvantages of both aluminum bats and wood bats. If we have a clear understanding of these things, we will know which one is more risky and therefore see the reasons why one should be used and one should be taken away from the game. Crane does a great job at helping the reader understand the risks of the wood bat and also a solution to the issue. I think this will benefit my paper in a way that it will give the reader real life situations that they can go experiment to see for themselves which is the better choice. Kenney, Kirk. "Colleges Won't Break Away From Aluminum." Sporting News 228.26 (2004): 45. Middle Search Plus. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. Kenney writes about the game of baseball and the use of aluminum bats at the college level. He explains what baseball purists thought about when aluminum bats were introduced in college. Kenney interviewed multiple college coaches and players about their thoughts on the aluminum bats. It is emphasized in the article that people love to see offense. They love to see big homeruns. Aluminum bats bring people to the games for that exact reason. It adds more excitement to the game. Kenney makes a claim that although it brings more excitement, it makes the job of the professional scouts more difficult in evaluating the hitting of the college players. According to one coach he interviewed, Coach George Horton from Cal State Fullerton, he claims that college baseball needs to be a little different than professional baseball.

Kenney writes a short, but clear informational article. He opens with an experience at the College World Series in 1998. He shows us the advantage of aluminum bats through this experience. Kenney receives input from various college coaches and players to give a solid opinion on what they think rather than random people who dont play the game. He has a few of them that agree with the use of aluminum bats and a few who disagree. Kenney does an excellent job and showing the reader reasons why each of them agrees or disagrees. He explains it clearly. Kenney achieves the use of the appeal of pathos in which he uses a quote from Cal State Fullerton coach George Horton as he explains that aluminum bats make people want to watch games. They enjoy big homeruns and high scoring games. His credibility relies upon the research he has done and the interviews he has had with the various coaches and players. I really enjoyed this article and I feel that it will benefit my paper in giving the side of aluminum bats the advantage. He shows the positive ways that aluminum bats help the game of baseball at the college level. There are a lot of personal opinions among the coaches and players that will be very helpful in my paper. I really liked how Kenney opened the article giving an experience of when aluminum bats were introduced at the College World Series. Kozlowski, James C. "Law Review: Fear Drives Baseball Bat Controversy." Parks & Recreation 43.8 (2008): 28. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. This article written by Kozlowski opens up with a story in June of 2006 about a 12 year old boy who was hit in the chest at a baseball game and now cant speak, walk, or do anything on his own. The family filed a lawsuit against the bat company. It explains the concern of the leagues and parents wanting to prohibit the use of aluminum bats in little

league. Kozlowski goes on to explain the increased risk the aluminum bats have to the players. He shares another story of a boy that was hit in the head with a line drive and also filed a lawsuit. The argument that was given by the defendants was that if a person was to be struck by a ball, it was a risk involved in playing the game of baseball. Kozlowski includes data that reported injuries in baseball and softball. Data was insufficient because injuries were from both aluminum and wood bats. For some, it was unknown where the cause of the injury was the ball from a bat or from a throw, and for some the type of bat that was used is unknown. He explains how it unclear and that they needed more information to know where the line should be drawn. The article continues to discuss the sweet spot of non-wood bats and how it is unfair, but aluminum bats can be calibrated in various ways. Aluminum bats are usually lighter, he emphasizes, but doesnt mean that there is more force hitting the ball. Kozlowskis article involved many statistics and involved a few examples of legal issues involved with the bat controversy. He shares a few stories of players getting struck by a ball and the families filing lawsuits to show the reader the seriousness of the issue. The language throughout the article is very serious and you can sense the concern he has for this issue as it pertains to the safety of those who play the great game of baseball. He is very detailed in each main point he discusses. It is a well written article with a lot of information about what has been done in the past to reduce the risk of injury in baseball. Kozlowski uses the appeal of logos very well in that he gives a few statistics about the fatalities due to ball impact. Kozlowski J.D., Ph.D., is an associate professor in the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism at George Mason University. He is also a legal/legislative counsel to NRPA Public Policy. The appeal of pathos is used as we

explains the injuries that have occurred to kids who have been hit by the ball. One had serious head injuries and the other couldnt walk or stand by himself. This article will benefit my position paper by giving me real examples of the injuries that have occurred with both aluminum bats and wood bats. It brings a powerful real life picture of this very serious issue. I am able to use the lawsuit examples and the things that have been done in past years to show the importance of coming up with a successful situation to this problem. III, Zaino, Nick A. "Great Bat Debate." New England Baseball Journal (2013). Zaino begins his article by introducing this issue by another article published in The New York Times in July 2006 titled, Metal Bats Are an Issue of Life and Death. From the title we see the seriousness of the issue. Zaino continues in the article by using two very credibile sources. Frank Carey, a coach from Massachusetts, who was inducted into the National High School Baseball Coachs Hall of Fame in 2012 and Gerry Lambert, another coach in Massachusetts who has taken his team to the postseason 11 times and winning two state championships. They offer their opinion on the issue and explain their reasoning. Carey likes the use of aluminum bats for the economic purposes, although it took him four or five years to see the advantages of them. Carey says this, When I coached, lets say in 73, we were given a budget for wooden bats. The bats were $5 apiece, a dozen was $60 and we had five to six dozen bats we went through in a season. About six dozen bats. So approximately $360. That was in 1973. Today, a cheap wooden bat would be $30. Times twelve, thats $360 a dozen. Youre talking close to $2,000 for six dozen bats. My whole budget for all my equipment and everything is less than a thousand dollars today. Lambert disagrees with them for the issue of saftey. Would I

rather drive in a car that has seatbelts or airbags? he says. Well, the answer is both, right? If you have one or the other, though, its better than nothing. And the 12-years-ago aluminum bats was driving around with nothing. The modern aluminum bat is driving around with at least your seatbelt on. I think a wood bat is a seatbelt and an airbag. He goes on discussing the sweet spot concern with both types of bats. Zaino continues with another argument. Tradition vs. Excitement. Baseball is a game of tradition, but nowadays people love seeing big homeruns. That is what brings most people into the seats. Zaino does a great job of using both sides of the issue in this article. He has two very great sources who have a lot of experience in the game of baseball and with both types of bats. He oragnizes his main points very well and in my opinion, in order of importance. The language he uses is very conversational. He provides valid reasons for each point he address whether it be for or against the use of alumunim bats. He does an excellent job at the beginning presenting the seriousness of the issue to the reader. He is very detailed with each main point. He uses the appeal of logos very well by Careys argument of the economical adavantage of alumunim bats. Zaino also uses the appeal of pathos in a way with the serious issue he proposes by the article published by The New York Times titled, Metal Bats Are an Issue of Life and Death. This is a very timely article as it was publsihed February 14, 2013. This article by Zaino will greatly benefit my postion paper because of the two coaches he sources. They give great arguments for both sides. It will make my paper very interesting. I also like how he explains the tradition of baseball as well as the excitement of baseball today. Baseball has been played for many years and has traditions that will never change,

but it has changed in a way that people want to see the big plays and homeruns. I will be able to implement the information given by Zaino in various ways in my position paper. I have learned many things from this research.

I have played baseball my whole life and I have experienced the advantages and disadvantages of both aluminum bats and wood bats. There many factors that go into this argument, but I feel the main one we need to focus on is the saftey of the players. I still stand on my opinion that aluminum bats should be limited, if not completely taken away from the game. It greatly reduce the level of risk in the game. It is also tradition. The game started with wood and that is how baseball is truly known.