Just to be clear – I’m about as pro-free market as they come. I believe in personal responsibility and individual freedoms in all aspects of life, from religion to occupation.

Of course, people have the right to play or watch a ballgame without subjecting themselves to the risk of sharp wooden projectiles, too.

Batters in the major league are more and more often finishing their swings with nothing but a five-inch sliver of wood in their hands. The rest of the revered tool? Flying like an unguided propeller end over end towards players, fans and coaches. A razor sharp edge at the bat’s breaking point near the handle is the most dangerous part of the equation – not that getting hit by the blunt end of 34-ounce slab of wood heaved by a professional athlete is a great alternative.

Those following professional baseball are all too familiar with the dangers of the increasingly popular maple bat. The growing number of breaking maples has called into question just where the line between personal freedom in the game and overall safety should be drawn. Questions of maple’s safety were brought dramatically to the forefront when Don Long, hitting coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates, had his face sliced in May during a game against the Dodgers by Nate McLouth’s fractured bat. The injury took 10 stitches to close up the gash on Long’s face and caused nerve damage. The cautionary element to this story, of course, is that Long is lucky to be alive.

What if the bat had hit him a few inches lower, in the neck? Or in the eyes? What if that fateful bat had been swung by David Ortiz, Adam Dunn or Albert Pujols rather than the 5’11”, 185-pound McLouth? One shudders to think about it.

The argument maple proponents make is that the higher density and significantly harder surface of the wood allows hitters to hit the ball harder. Ash on the other hand is a stronger, more flexible wood that actually boasts a larger sweet spot than maple. But because of ash’s softer surface and lower density, maple use has risen steadily since Barry Bonds blasted a record number of long balls a few years back. When an ash bat breaks (which happens significantly less frequently than with maple), it cracks and splinters into several small pieces.

But many players like maple’s harder, smoother surface as opposed to ash’s grainier and more brittle texture. The problem lies in the fact that maple does not necessarily mean more power, more hits or more success at the plate. Players are endangering their colleagues and fans alike by using a tool that doesn’t even improve their performance.

Sure, plenty of big leaguers whose reputations as mashers precede them use maple – David Ortiz, Albert Pujols and Miguel Tejada to name a few. But there are just as many outstanding hitters who swing ash, like Lance Berkman, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and 600 home run-club member Ken Griffey Jr. The fact remains that it isn’t the bat you swing, it’s the swing itself. You could send Chipper Jones up to the plate with willow bark this year and he’d still knock his share of dingers.

The point is that one day, and it might be soon, a fan or a player is going to be killed by the flying end of a maple bat. I know baseball players are slightly obsessive compulsive about the tools of their trade, and are more than a little superstitious. I also know that players want to protect the right to use the equipment they want as long as it does not provide an unfair advantage to them. To many, I’m sure it is a matter of personal freedom at the work place.

But there is the larger and more important issue of ensuring the safety and livelihood of spectators and athletes alike. It’s the same reason you are not free to tackle a running back any way you please in football (facemask), drive any way you want in NASCAR (HANS device requirement) or swing whatever you want to in baseball.

Let’s keep in mind, there’s also a reason major league swingers don’t tote high-powered metal bats. It would be horribly unsafe.

To allow the use of a tool that malfunctions on a daily basis and consequently puts the health and wellbeing of players and fans at risk every day is not just wrong – it is just plain stupid.

Take the maple away, let some of those players gripe and then watch as they go on playing the game anyway. Catering to spoiled players’ idiosyncrasies is not what matters – protecting those who watch and play the game is.