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What are we going to have warning labels on next? Apparently baseball bats can hit baseballs really hard, and there otta be a LABEL!!

I don't want to denigrate the death of a young man, but this is ridiculous:

Bat maker found liable for player's death

After 12 hours of deliberation, a jury sided with the parents of former Miles City American Legion baseball pitcher Brandon Patch in a civil suit over the player's death during a 2003 game in Helena.

Aluminum bat maker Hillerich & Bradsby Co. failed to provide adequate warning as to the dangers of the bat used by a Helena Senators player during the game, at least eight of the 12 Lewis and Clark County jurors agreed Wednesday.

Hillerich & Bradsby Co. was ordered to pay $792,000 to Patch's estate, which is represented by his mother, Debbie Patch, who filed the suit. Those funds were allotted to cover the lost earnings Patch would have made had he lived, and the pain he suffered from the injury before he died about four hours after being struck in the temple with a batted ball.

"This was for Brandon and the kids on the field," Debbie Patch said after hearing the ruling. "We just hoped we could get the truth out for more people to see."

In the verdict read in District Judge Kathy Seeley's courtroom, the jurors found the company, which makes Louisville Slugger bats, liable for failing to warn users of the danger of its aluminum bats and that this failure caused the accident that killed 18-year-old Patch.

Two words: Horse Hockey. And why?

A third decision was that the bat was not defective.

It worked as designed, but the design was dangerous.

It's a CLUB designed to STRIKE a HARD OBJECT and propel that object at HIGH VELOCITY. The argument is that aluminum bats give higher ball velocities than wooden bats. Still, why wasn't the ballmaker sued? Their product wasn't defective either, but it's the object that caused the trauma that ended young Brandon Patch's life. Can't baseballs be made safer? Shouldn't they carry a warning label? Batters are required to wear protective headgear against the possibility that a wild pitch might strike them in the head, injuring or killing them. Catchers and umpires wear protective padding and face guards for the same reason. Why shouldn't the league be sued for not requiring protective equipment for the pitcher against the same kind of injury from a batted ball? Why was the bat manufacturer singled out?

Because it's an evil corporation with deep pockets, and the jury could be swayed to fleece it in memory of a young man. After all, it's only money. The corporation has insurance, right?