Bat Scan to the Rescue: New Clubhouse CT Scanner Helps Eliminate Expl...( Thirty-second Scan Can Uncover Hidden...),Health

Thirty-second Scan Can Uncover Hidden Defects in Maple Bats Before Disaster

Strikes for Fans, Players and Coaches

CLEVELAND, June 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The world's first baseball-bat dedicated application of a portable, battery-operated CT scanner -- able to detect hidden flaws or developed stress within Major League Baseball bats by scanning the bat end-to-end in 30 seconds -- will be introduced as BatteryMate(TM) on June 27, 2008, at the Society For American Baseball Research's (SABR) National Conference in Cleveland, Ohio, by Universal Medical Systems, Inc. (UMS) of Ohio in cooperation with Penn State's Center for Quantitative Imaging.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080623/CLM071 )

"Our CT-scanning application -- in 30 seconds at any clubhouse or factory -- can help eliminate this Russian roulette Major League Baseball is playing right now with fans, players and coaches," says David Zavagno, president, UMS.

A fan, Susan Rhodes, needed jaw surgery after being struck by a maple bat at a Dodgers game in April. Just ten days before, Pittsburgh Pirates' hitting coach Don Long suffered a gash causing a damaged nerve leaving part of his upper lip without feeling after being hit by a splintered bat. Several managers, including John Russell (Pittsburgh Pirates), Jim Leyland (Detroit Tigers), Charlie Manuel (Philadelphia Phillies) and Joe Maddon (Tampa Bay Rays), have voiced concern over the serious danger caused by maple bats exploding.

A committee meeting consisting of representatives from the players' union, the Commissioner's office and Major League Baseball (MLB) teams will meet in New York on June 24, 2008, to discuss the workplace safety hazard caused by in-play breakage of maple bats.

"Once a crack has started it can explode along the direction of maximum stress much like you split wood with a wedge," says Dr.
'/>"/>