The Emerald Ash Borer

As if bat makers didn't already have enough problems...

A couple of weeks back I was alerted to a terribly disturbing phenomenon taking place in some of our nation's forests. Mainly located in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions of the US there is a ruthless bug that is eating away all of our ash trees and threatening to kill one of our pastime's most enduring symbols.

This beetle, discovered in Michigan in 2002, has quickly ravaged forests from there to Ohio, Indiana, and Maryland, killing tens of millions of white ash trees — the same type used by Louisville Slugger to make MLB’s official bats.

Read the short article from Men's Health here.

Of course baseball bats are mainly made out of Maple or Ash trees so this is going to cause a huge problem in the future. As these trees go, so will an industry that relies on them being replenished regularly.

I never like hearing about an invasive species taking over an ecosystem only to change it completely, ruining everything indigenous in its path. Cue my second and third most hated eco-enemies: Snakeheads and Kudzu

The DR

Below is some great footage of what baseball is like in the Dominican Republic. The crew working on this documentary is doing an awesome job telling the story down there. They feature some of the players that are looking to sign this July 2, which begins baseball's annual international signing period. One player included is a short stop named, Miguel Angel Sano, who seems likely to be the top breadwinner this year with rumors of him getting something near $3 million. Sano is mentioned a bit in an informative article about the state of Dominican scouting.

I encourage you to check out their production blog here.

Live to Play, Play to Live - Yheraldy Rough Cut from Ross Finkel on Vimeo.

Live to Play, Play to Live - Yheraldy Rough Cut 2 from Ross Finkel on Vimeo.