WASHINGTON — A federal safety agency Tuesday recommended that youth baseball leagues begin using softer balls and new kinds of batting helmets and bases, saying that they could significantly reduce the more than 100,000 injuries American children suffer in games every year.
The step by the Consumer Product Safety Commission focuses attention on a growing nationwide debate over an annual American rite of spring: the Little League game.
For the Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday June 20, 1996 Home Edition Part A Page 3 Metro Desk 2 inches; 41 words Type of Material: Correction
Product safety--In a June 5 story about baseball safety, the Times erroneously reported that the Consumer Product Safety Commission had not written any new product standards since the early 1980s. In fact, the commission has issued a number of voluntary and mandatory standards since then.
The controversy has pitted some parents and pediatricians, worried about safety, against traditionalists seeking to preserve the standard baseball, bat and other equipment.
The recommendation by the commission was welcomed news for a group of parents in southern Orange County who started a separate baseball league because they believed that softer balls should be used during games to reduce injuries to children.
Felicia Breshears, whose 9-year-old son plays in the rival league, said she was encouraged by the agency's recommendation. She said she decided to enroll her son in the Youth Baseball Athletic League after he was "hit and hurt numerous times with the traditional ball."
Breshears and other parents decided to secede from the Rancho Niguel Little League after league officials rejected a request from about 80 parents that they adopt a safer, softer baseball. Rancho Niguel Little League officials rejected the request, opting for the traditional baseball, which has a core made of natural wool yarn or coarse, synthetic fiber.
The Youth Baseball Athletic League uses the so-called RIF, or reduced injury factor ball, whose center is made of polyurethane foam. The RIF ball is softer and "flies" off the bat much slower than the traditional baseball.
The Orange County chapter, headquartered in Laguna Niguel, boasts 250 ballplayers ranging in age from 4 to 14 years. The local chapter does not yet use the other safety equipment recommended by the federal safety agency.
"I'm glad that the work we've done has created some awareness. We feel more comfortable as parents knowing that injuries have been reduced, and kids play better because they aren't afraid to go after the ball. I'm thrilled that a federal agency has recognized this," Breshears said.
Many believe that using the new equipment will be more expensive and raise costs. But at least one children's league that experimented with the safer products said it led to fewer injuries and reductions in its insurance premiums.
