By Kris Ohashi
Major League Baseball could be in hot water again, as a new policy imposing mandatory liability insurance for bat makers is prompting potential legal action.
As the league deals with issues surrounding the recent death of Baltimore Orioles’ pitcher Steve Belcher, bat makers are lashing out against the newly imposed licensing fees.
“They’re taking what little magic there is left in baseball,” says Sam Holman, Centretown native and founder of The Original Maple Bat Company.
Under the new regulations, bat makers are required to pay a $10,000 US administrative fee and to obtain a $10 million US liability insurance policy, costing Canadian companies an additional $65,000 US.
Prior to this season, bat makers were not required to pay any fees to be licensed.
Due to the new costly demands, only 15 of last year’s 48 bat makers have decided to continue supplying Major League players.
Holman’s company, which provides bats for all-stars like Montreal Expo Vladimir Guerrero and single-season homerun record holder Barry Bonds, reluctantly paid the fees, making his company the only remaining Canadian Major League bat supplier.
“We have too many clients to not have paid them,” he says.
“Last year we had 400 to 500 pro players using our bats, and this year we expect somewhere around 1,000.”
While Holman says the fees are unnecessary, he acknowledges that his company — which raised its bat prices for Major League players by $10 to offset the new costs — could benefit from the new ruling.
“I couldn’t have hired enough monkeys to blast my competition away like this,” he says.
Tom Roberts, founder of the Tom Cat Bat Company in Mount Albert, Ont., told Major League Baseball that he would no longer be supplying bats to its players.
“We would have to sell 2,000 bats, not including the cost of labour and production, to make up that much,” he says.
“It just didn’t make any sense for us.”
But he isn’t about to go quietly.
Roberts, who is one of three bat manufacturers spearheading a potential class-action lawsuit against Major League Baseball, is looking to convince other bat makers who were unable to meet the league’s demands to join him in filing for legal action against the league.
Having supplied bats to Major League players since 1998, Roberts says that the insurance is senseless and was implemented to eliminate smaller companies.
Roberts’ company made bats for players like Canadian Corey Koskie of the Minnesota Twins and former Toronto Blue Jays Roberto Alomar and Rickey Henderson.
“There hasn’t been a successful lawsuit against bat makers in 25 years,” he says.
“There’s no reason for it (the new costs). We have something in the works because it’s an infringement on our rights, on competition and the rights of players as consumers.
“They should have the right to choose from as many bat companies as possible.”
However, Matthew Gould, spokesperson for Major League Baseball, says that wasn’t the purpose of the new requirements.
“We’re not necessarily trying to weed out the smaller companies,” he says, speaking from New York.
“This ruling is more to ensure that we only have serious bat makers providing our players with quality products and to protect ourselves.”
Roberts says he was told otherwise by a league official.
“They told me that this was to bring down the number of bat makers.”
According to Roberts, the new requirements also demonstrate a lack of foresight on the part of Major League Baseball.
“The silly thing is, if they lose a lawsuit to us they stand to lose millions,” he says.
“And all for what? If we win, the companies that paid the fees will probably want their money back too.”
In the meantime, he has turned his focus toward the grassroots level. “Major League Baseball wasn’t our only source for customers,” he says.
“It was a good one, but there’s 20 million kids out there that play baseball. It just means we need refocusing.”