Maple vs Ash

Until I read this story, I thought all current MLB bats were made of ash.

Now that I think about it, there does seem to be a lot of splintered flying bats now. That rarely happened in the past. It used to be that a batter would tap his bat on the plate and would call for a new one if he thought it was cracked...I don't see that very often anymore. Instead, I see a lot of flying lumber.

Baseball at breaking point over maple bats - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

What if the bats were made purely of cork? I know that Sammy Sosa was a pioneer with his research and experimentation a few years ago.

I thought they were oak or pine.
I've been wanting to introduce the "ThunderBolt" it has an aluminium core down thru the handle. Won't break but might bend. Throw it back to the ballboy after using.

Oak is a very brittle hardwood. Pine is an unsuitable softwood. Old bats were made of hickory...very tough, but heavier than other hardwoods.

As for 'aluminum Thunderbolt'?...it would probably shatter a grained wood exterior on first contact...not to mention MLB bat guidelines

Hickory, I forgot all my woods. What about teac/teak?
Is maple blonde?

Something needs to be done. Someone is going to get hurt and I hope it isn't serious before they make a change.

Just watched Thames' maple bat shatter on a force out...the barrel ended up in the outfield. Mario & Rod are talking about the problem now.

Someday, someone's gonna get impaled by one...they should be outlawed.

Wear better head gear.

That's close, but if the bats don't get banned I'm expecting someone will end up with a shattered bat actually stuck in them ...followed by multi-million $ lawsuits against MLB and maple bat manufacturers.

At least Bonds wore body armor.