May, 2010 | The Baseball Zealot

Can wood bats make a comeback in college baseball?

Is college baseball considering making a move back to wood bats? It appears so.

Currently, colleges almost universally employ aluminum bats and its distinctive ‘ping’. Now, it looks like there might be a movement to get back to using the traditional wood bats. According to this article at the NCAA web site, Division II in particular is serious about contemplating the change:

Pitchers in high school or community college who are throwing the ball between 88 to 92 miles per hour typically are drafted into professional baseball, (Flagler head coach Dave) Barnett said, because scouts look initially for velocity. Those who either don’t sign or are not drafted who have that kind of speed will be scooped up by Division I. That leaves Division II schools being in more of a development mode, Barnett said.

That makes wood the right choice for Division II, Barnett said. He and his colleagues in the Peach Belt – especially since Brunk arrived – have talked about changing but are reluctant to do so unless the division acts collectively.

Interest on the Division I level?

But is Division II the only level considering a change? Maybe not.

This month, the Big Ten Network posted a poll on its baseball page asking, “Costs aside, should college baseball move to use wood bats or stay with sweet "ping" of metal?”. Rather odd, considering the Big Ten is comprised of Division I teams.

As far as I’m concerned, the results aren’t incredibly important. If you’re interested, Wood has the edge 70.7% to 29.3% (surprised?? yeah, I was, too).

However, what IS important is that the poll is there at ALL. It tells me two things:

1) The issue is on their minds.. that it’s even an issue at all. By “their” I mean the Big Ten Network who certainly has the close ears of the Big Ten itself.

and

2) It’s a potential way to push the issue into the public’s minds (and by “public”, I mean the small subset of the public that follows college baseball. Polls can go both ways. Yes, they may be a good way to gauge opinion but they are also a tool to throw a wet noodle issue onto a wall and perhaps see if it sticks.

From the looks of it, Division II college baseball is on their way to discussing the issue of wood bats on the diamond. It seems those conferences have more to gain from it considering the development of the players involved. Still, it will be interesting to watch this story unfold.

Illini alums who done good

Last Saturday, I had the privilege of meeting former MLB players, Donn Pall (left) and Darrin Fletcher. They’re both University of Illinois alums and they showed up for Alumni Weekend at Illinois Field.

They got a good show. Illinois starter Kevin Johnson shut out Purdue and Illinois won 7-0. See the full report at the Illinois Baseball Report.

Flippin’ for baseball

Ozzie Smith has nothing on University of Illinois shortstop Josh Parr. Parr exhibits his own pre-game acrobatics last week before the Illini game against Butler by doing a full back flip.

The confidence must have been contagious. Illinois went on to defeat the Butler Bulldogs 19-0 that night.

Book Review: High Heat by Tim Wendel

This book review is written by guest author CLuke who despite being a White Sox AND a Northwestern Wildcat fan, is a pretty cool guy.

In his new book High Heat: The Secret History of the Fastball and the Improbable Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time (2010) author Tim Wendel has gone on a quest for speed. His speed obsession is very specific and as a matter of fact coincides with one of my favorite obsessions- baseball. Tim has traveled on an enjoyable literary journey to find one or in this case the fastest pitcher of all time.

The true baseball fan will recognize the paths that Mr. Wendel will take you down must include such names as Walter Johnson, Bob Feller and of course the Express- Nolan Ryan. What many fans may not expect are hearing names such as Rusie, Dalkowski and yes even Wagner and Zumaya contained in this elite group.

Newer pitchers such as Steven Strasburg and David Price are mentioned as well as sometimes overlooked pitchers like J.R. Richard, Sam McDowell and Pud Galvin (an often forgotten Hall of Famer).

Wendel interviews great fastball pitchers, batters who’ve faced them and other baseball intelligentsia in what is a pleasant celebration and quest for one of the most dangerous elements in the sport of baseball- a horsehide flung at speeds up to and over 100 mph!

One of the more fascinating aspects to Wendel’s book is his comparison of how the speed of a fastball has been measured down through the years.

In the closing days of the 1912 season Baseball magazine convinced the two fastest pitchers at the time Washington’s Walter Johnson and Brooklyn’s Nap Rucker to travel to Bridgeport Connecticut and there at the Remington Arms Company bullet-testing range measure the speed of a fastball for the first time. A tunnel that was intended to be used for testing the speed of bullets was used in an attempt to measure the fastballs of each of the two hurlers. After considerable effort and a consequent loss of speed (per the book quoting Baseball Magazine) Johnson clocked in at 86.6 mph and Rucker only 76 mph. The test probably had some significant flaws however.

Later Bob Feller had to fling a baseball past a speeding motorcycle in attempt to measure the speed of his pitch. Even today with the apparent sophistication of measuring devices Wendel notes that there are discrepancies between radar guns in different stadiums.

All in all an enjoyable book that took me to a few places that I’ve never been before. I particularly enjoyed hearing once again the story of Steve Dalkowski a Baltimore farmhand in the 1960’s who never made it to the big time but may have had the fastest fastball of all. Wendel depicts a fascinating story about Dalkowski and HOF manager Earl Weaver. “In 1962 with Weaver instructing him to throw only his fastball and his slider Dalkowski went on to have his best year ever. In the final 57 innings pitching for Weaver at Elmira, the left hander gave up only one earned run and struck out 110 batters and walked only 21”. He would go to spring training the next year with the Orioles but I’ll leave it for the author to tell the rest of this tale.

I would recommend High Heat as a pleasantly readable and enjoyable romp through the history of the fastball and many of the men who threw it. With this meaty of a topic however, I was a little bit disappointed that the book was only a little over 200 pages and it did seem to be lacking on serious stats for all of the sabermeticians out there.

Still in all this, is a worthwhile read and a nice addition to the library of the true baseball fan.

I’m giving it 3 and a half bats.

You can pick up High Heat: The Secret History of the Fastball and the Improbable Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time at any fine book store near you or order it from Amazon. You can also check out the book’s blog site.

As an aside, I was intrigued to learn that Mr. Wendel has written a book on the long forgotten Buffalo Braves of the NBA. This one may also be worth checking out if I can find a copy.

CLuke