Carey recalls going to bat for aluminum

LYNNFIELD – The state?s baseball coaches, or, more importantly, those who have to pay for equipment, can thank Frank Carey for the fact that they?re still using aluminum bats.About a decade ago, there was a movement afoot by the Massachusetts State Baseball Coaches Association to go back to wood bats, believing that the speed by which the ball jumps off an aluminum bat caused more injuries.?I remember going to the meeting about it,” Carey recalls. “I was with two other coaches (Roger Day and Jim Tgettis) and asked each of them how many times they?d seen or heard of a disastrous injury from an aluminum bat. They couldn?t think of any and I couldn?t either.”So, Carey launched a virtual one-man crusade against the proposal.?It was an uphill battle in the beginning,” he said. “I conducted my own survey, and found that in 20,000 games, there may have been injuries, but none what you?d call catastrophic. Nothing related to balls being hit off kids.”But, said Carey, administrators were alarmed over the liability, “and they were panicking. Athletic directors too.”Finally, he got some other coaches to come on board with him and managed to get the tide turned. But not without some concessions.?There used to be what?s called Bat Exit Speed Ratio, and they settled on a number. But coaches thought there was still too much offense. And in college, the scores of World Series games were like 11-10.?So, the NCAA devised a new system, called BB Core Ball (Bat Co-Efficient of Restitution). They changed the standards so that the ball would come off the bat slower. At this point, the aluminum bats aren?t any different than the wood bats.?And,” Carey said, “last year, there were 32 home runs in the College World Series. This year ? only nine.”Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].