Bat Ban Update

Congratulations, New York! You're the first city in America to ban metal bats for high school kids:

The New York City Council passed a bill today banning the use of metal bats in high school baseball games, securing enough votes to override a potential veto by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and setting up a possible legal challenge from the metal bat industry.

"I know this is not the most pressing issue on the minds of New Yorkers," said [the bill's original sponsor, James S. Oddo] shortly before the vote, "but I really believe in this bill. There is risk in all sports, and there is risk in baseball playing with a wooden bat, but when the risk becomes unreasonable, people have to act."

How did this just "become" unreasonable? Is aluminum some kind of new technology? Are kids suddenly so hopped up on steroids that they're hitting with deadly force? Or are athletes just more effete thanks to the ever-enervating War on Boys?

David Weigel, a shill for the metal bat industry if there ever was one, noted the imminent ban this morning.