Court Backs Council Metal Bat Ban
No studies have offered conclusive evidence that metal bats pose more of a danger than wooden ones.
A federal judge has cleared the way for the City Council's ban on metal bats in high school baseball. The prohibition, the first of kind in the country, can now take effect on Saturday.
According to the Associated Press, Judge John Koeltl, of U.S. District Court in Manhattan, wrote:
“The protection of the health and safety of high school-age students is entitled to great weight. While the record does not include clear empirical evidence showing that more serious injuries would occur without the ordinance, it is the city’s legislative assessment that the risk is too great.
Thank God the City Council is willing to tackle such weighty issues. It's not like there's 1.8 million New Yorkers without health insurance or an affordable housing crisis in this town. After the jump are great quotes, of a celebratory and congratulatory nature, from Councilmembers James Oddo and Lew Fidler.
You know why they did it? For the children. They did it for the children.
New York City Council Minority Leader James S. Oddo said:
"This effort always has been about the safety of our kids and eliminating an unnecessary and unreasonable risk from their baseball games. Parents, organizations, leagues of all ages, municipalities and state governments should take this Federal Court's ruling as a green light to return the game to its roots by enacting similar laws to prohibit the use of metal bats so that kids can enjoy a better, purer and safer brand of baseball. Somewhere, be it a random Iowa cornfield or the celestial Fenway Park in the sky, the soul of Ted Williams is smiling today."
Youth Services Committee Chair Lewis Fidler said:
"This is a victory for children. This is a victory for student athletes. This is a victory for concerned parents. The child whose life and health we have saved may never know it, but what we have done here may well have saved lives."
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