Baseball bat
The baseball bat (Engl. Baseball bat ) is a baseball used -Sports sports equipment . A softball bat looks similar, but differs in important details and is available almost exclusively made of aluminum. They are sometimes referred to as baseball clubs or softball clubs. The following description applies to baseball bats.
material
A baseball bat must be circular in cross-section, a maximum of 42 inches (107 cm) long and a maximum diameter of 2.75 inches (almost 7 cm) at the thickest point. Its weight is usually between 26 and 35 ounces (around 800 to 1000 grams), but this is not required. The stronger the batsman , the harder he will usually pick the club. For this purpose, a baseball team has a wide variety of bats. Sometimes baseball players also bring their personal bat to the game, with which they then have a very "close relationship".
The material is either solid ( turned ) and then lacquered wood or hollow aluminum . In Germany, the DBV (German Baseball and Softball Association) is allowed to play with either wooden or aluminum bats, in the regional league and the 2nd and 1st Bundesliga only wooden bats are allowed. When buying wooden clubs, you should make sure that they are approved by the DBV. They must be solid and made of one piece; wooden clubs that are hollowed out or composed of several parts are not permitted. The usual material today is the particularly elastic, break-proof and hardly splintering ash wood . In the past, the somewhat heavier walnut-like hickory was often used.
Aluminum baseball bats vibrate less strongly when hit, making it easier to hit a base ball or softball correctly. Aluminum clubs are hollow and made of an alloy that meets the requirements for strength against plastic deformation and corrosion caused by hand perspiration. The advantage of aluminum clubs is that they bounce slightly when they hit the ball, which gives the ball more momentum. In addition, they are less subject to wear, as wooden clubs can break quickly. In the American MLB aluminum clubs are forbidden, there is played with wood. The reason is on the one hand in tradition, on the other hand in increasing the chances of the defending team. Aluminum clubs are also used in school sports and in amateur leagues in the USA.
shape
The knob at the end of the handle is turned out of solid wood. Aluminum clubs often have a pommel made of glued plastic. The grip area is long enough to provide space for both hands at a certain distance and about 2.5 cm in diameter. This is followed by a conical or bottle-like curved enlargement of the diameter, which then remains constant about 7 cm over the impact area and thus about 30% of the total length. This cylinder is rounded off by a flatter than hemispherical curve.
Just like mallets and irons in the mine sign, a mallet with the striking part (at an angle) pointing upwards is active.
weapon
Due to its club-like shape, the baseball bat can also be used relatively well as a striking weapon against people. In Germany and other countries where baseball is less popular than in the USA, the baseball bat also has a dubious reputation, as it was perceived primarily (also through films) as a weapon by violent people or groups and not exclusively as a sports device.
The most famous use as a weapon is the legend of the murders of Albert Anselmi , John Scalise and Joseph Giunta ; all three are said to have been personally struck down with a baseball bat at a banquet on May 8, 1929 by Al Capone , who can be regarded as the archetype of an American bully . The legend became popular through the 1987 film The Untouchables , in which Robert De Niro brutally staged the murder as Al Capone.
From a legal point of view, baseball bats are not automatically considered weapons ; According to § 1 WaffG, the baseball bat could be rated as a portable object in the sense of the paragraph , which "without being intended, in particular because of its nature, handling or mode of action, is suitable to eliminate or reduce the ability of people to attack or defend themselves" . But since such an object must also be mentioned in this law, the baseball bat is not automatically considered a weapon, as it is not listed in the appendix to the law.
At the moment when it is actually used within the meaning of the Weapons Act, it is (like any other potentially dangerous object) legally regarded as a dangerous tool and therefore similar to the legal consequences of a weapon. However, if it is suspected that it is to be used as a weapon, it can be seized by the police for reasons of hazard prevention law. So z. B. in Hamburg since December 2007 for St. Pauli and especially for the local Reeperbahn a gun ban zone, in which the wielding of baseball bats is expressly forbidden. In the new version of the Swiss Weapons Act passed on July 2, 2008 , baseball bats were included as dangerous objects that could be confiscated. If you take one with you, it must be possible to make credible that it is to be used as sports equipment (for example by carrying the racket in a sports bag together with other sports equipment).
Trivia
The most valuable baseball bat in the world once belonged to the American baseball player Babe Ruth . It was auctioned on December 2, 2004 at the Sotheby’s auction house in New York City for the equivalent of 892,000 euros.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ "Gun ban: Reeperbahn - the felted mile" by Georg Ismar on www.welt.de
- ↑ Weapons Act should come into force at the end of 2008 - the collection of signatures for the initiative continues ( Memento from May 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (humanrights.ch)
