A Softer Ball, and Tradition Too

The author Roger Angell once devoted an entire baseball essay to the ball itself, its place in the game’s lore, its chance bounces and caroms and, finally, its look and makeup. Among its facets--the aesthetics of its flight, its mundane essence of wool yarn or synthetic fiber--the traditional baseball, many parents have concluded, is also a missile that can pose too much of a threat to young players.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission now has gone on record as agreeing with those concerned parents, and it is calling for not only softer baseballs in youth leagues but also new kinds of batting helmets and bases.

It is healthy that consumerism has made its way onto the small fry’s diamond. Change for safety’s sake should pose no long-term threat to the proverbial “integrity of the game.” Some leagues already have made safety revisions on their own.

When the “safety ball” debate played out in Orange County’s Laguna Niguel last year, parents who didn’t buy the traditionalist argument formed a league for youngsters using a new softer ball with a polyurethane-foam core. Teams in many other cities throughout the western United States had done the same.

Baseball has its romance, to be sure, but it also has its hazards. The safety commission’s findings are recommendations, but they ought to take their place alongside any common-sense, everyday precautions for children inhabiting a new environment that poses risks. Even at the big league level, custom should be balanced with safety concerns; Dodgers announcer Vin Scully, for example, periodically argues for batting helmets for base coaches, which would be a departure, but a sensible one.

It of course is possible to introduce youngsters gradually to all the rigors of the grand old game, bringing on the hardball in good time along with the curves thrown by bigger, stronger arms and the larger diamonds and more-distant fences. That way the integrity argument can be paid due respect, but the traditions of the game will be accompanied by prudent safety considerations.