Breakaway Bases can Prevent the Majority of Softball Injuries

Now that softball season is upon us, it may be time to take a look at some interesting - and in some cases - alarming statistics.

The Amateur Softball Association of America estimates that 32 million people participate in softball leagues, playing about 23 million softball games every year.

As a result of those games, more than 360,000 injuries are treated yearly in emergency rooms alone, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Of these injuries, 35 to 71 percent are the result of base sliding. They include abrasions. sprains, and fractures.

According to a study of recreational softball conducted at the University of Michigan, the average cost of these injuries was $1,223 per injury. Projected nationally, these figures suggest that altogether some 1.7 million sliding injuries occur annually at a medical cost of over $2 billion.

These are staggering figures. The question is, what can be done about all of these injuries? The most obvious answer is don't slide. If sliding in softball were prohibited, the number of injuries would drop substantially. While many in fact don't slide, it's likely that many players and fans would object to such a blanket prohibition. So for some, this solution simply may not be realistic.

Another solution might involve altering shoes in some way - perhaps, for example, by changing the length of cleats. Again, this approach simply may not be realistic.

But don't despair, softball players. There is a feasible and effective way to reduce the number of sliding injuries. It's easy -- use break-away bases. The reasoning goes like this:

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If the great majority of sliding injuries are due to people slamming into stationary bases, then releasing the bases from their supports would alleviate the problem. Rather than requiring the body to give during impact, let the base do the giving. Not attaching the bases to the ground might seem to achieve a similar result, although having bases completely loose could well cause problems with base running and sliding. So just how safe are break-away bases?

That's just what the University of Michigan tested during a two-year study during 1986 and 1987. Researchers compared the results of 600 softball games played on a field with special, break-away bases. These bases, which were anchored by rubber grommets to mats sunk into the ground, would break away after absorbing only one-fifth of the force required to dislodge stationary bases.

The players ranged from college students to physicians, from executives to laborers, all between 18 and 55 yeas old - in other words, just the kind of people who play softball nationwide.

The results were dramatic. There were 96 percent fewer sliding injuries on the field with break-away bases than there were on the normal field.

And, in what amounts to further good news for softball enthusiasts, the umpires indicated that even though the bases broke away an average of six times a game, they didn't significantly delay the play.

The question now is, some 10 years after we have been presented with irrefutable evidence that these break-away style bases can prevent injuries and save billions of scarce health care dollars, why aren't we all playing on releasable bases?

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