Fleischer uses WH spin skills to defend metal bats.
By on Aug 20th, 2007 at 10:20 am
Fleischer uses WH spin skills to defend metal bats.
Nearly four years since he left the White House, former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer has a new gig: fighting to protect metal baseball bats in Pound Ridge, NY. Fleischer is now the spokesman for Don’t Take My Bat Away — an organization which represents baseball bat manufacturers fighting the proposed ban. The Sun notes that Fleischer has a personal interest in lobbying for metal bats as well:
When he worked in Washington, Mr. Fleischer played in a men’s baseball league in Virginia that allowed metal bats. He said he batted around .300 at the time, but his average dropped to about .200 after he moved to Pound Ridge and joined a men’s league in Westchester County that plays exclusively with wooden bats.
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Let’s not ban tin foil hats either.
August 20th, 2007 at 10:23 amSo basically, he sucks and needs a lighter bat?
August 20th, 2007 at 10:24 am;)
Are you guys Freaking serious?
August 20th, 2007 at 10:26 amYou liberals will look for anything to complain about
We dont forget, Ari:
Ari Fleischer
Press Briefing
December 2, 2002
If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world.
Ari Fleischer
Press Briefing
January 9, 2003
We know for a fact that there are weapons there.
Ari Fleisher
Press Briefing
March 21, 2003
Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly . . . all this will be made clear in the course of the operation, for whatever duration it takes.
Ari Fleischer
August 20th, 2007 at 10:27 amPress Briefing
April 10, 2003
But make no mistake — as I said earlier — we have high confidence that they have weapons of mass destruction. That is what this war was about and it is about. And we have high confidence it will be found.
Hahaha! He’s spokesman for some metal bat organization?? Next thing Fleischer will be doing for a living is defending the East Poughkeepsie Ice Cream Truck Drivers’ right to serve Drumstiks.
August 20th, 2007 at 10:30 am“So, if you throw it into the pond, and it floats, it must be made of……?”
“Wood! Made of wood!”
“And therefore……..”
“A bat! It’s a bat!”
“Burn the bat… burn the bat!”
August 20th, 2007 at 10:30 amLight bat for a lightweight.
At least Ari’s got his priorities in order. *yawn*
August 20th, 2007 at 10:30 amWhere have you gone, Ari Fleischer? The nation turns its lonely eyes to you. Wait a sec…you’re pretty ugly and Dana Perino is HOT. We’d much rather be “misdirected” by a hottie. Go back to your bats.
August 20th, 2007 at 10:31 amComment by Raven — August 20, 2007 @ 10:30 am
Ari turned me into a newt.
August 20th, 2007 at 10:31 amI miss Ari. He was much less sweaty than Scotty.
August 20th, 2007 at 10:33 amHow far the first ex-BushCo Bull$hitter has fallen!
Maybe the Snow-job’s next gig will be to protect the endangered Hank Aaron home run record from a roided-up Giant….. Oh wait, too late!
August 20th, 2007 at 10:33 amwood bats embolden the terrorists.
August 20th, 2007 at 10:45 amAveraging 300? in a softball league I assume, since there’s no way this guy’s playing American Legion ball. Do you know how bad 300 is in softball, much less 200!! And all for a good cause, keeping the metal bat makers going. I guess he wants all kids to wear kevlar for shirts along with the new kevlar backpacks!
August 20th, 2007 at 10:46 amdid they say metal bat or moon bat?
August 20th, 2007 at 10:46 amCaption:
“… but with a metal bat, I can hit the ball THIS far!”
August 20th, 2007 at 10:47 amIf I were fast-pitching against Ari, I would aim for his head with every pitch.
August 20th, 2007 at 10:47 amCaption:
“We can’t stop here – this is BAT COUNTRY!”
August 20th, 2007 at 10:59 amHey, I’m glad Ari has a job, but —– did I miss something? Am I supposed to care about this?
August 20th, 2007 at 11:01 amYou can always bring the fence in Ari.
August 20th, 2007 at 11:02 aminfo@dtmba.com
afleischer@dtmba.com
August 20th, 2007 at 11:04 amAre you guys Freaking serious?
You liberals will look for anything to complain about
Comment by gitMORules — August 20, 2007 @ 10:26 am
and you rightards will do anything for a buck. bend over, ari’s behind you.
August 20th, 2007 at 11:06 amI have to admit this story does seem a little batty.
August 20th, 2007 at 11:17 amIf your batting average drops 100 points after you switch from metal to wooden bats, that’s because you are a weakling who cannot drive a baseball and you have no business playing baseball.
August 20th, 2007 at 11:22 amSwitch to slow pitch softball instead.
And he calls himself a conservative?
August 20th, 2007 at 11:27 amMetal bats?
Does he also have shoes with little lights in them?
Fleischer has bats in his head.
August 20th, 2007 at 11:33 amActually this story isn’t “batty” at all…The use of metel bats in college, high school and high level travel ball is an issue of safety.. You just need to see a 14 year kid hit a ball 400 feet to understand that if I would have been a line drive at the pitcher it would have been a lethal. Every year, kids are seriously injured or kill in baseball by batted balls. My son plays high level travel ball in Georgia, his bat cost 395 dollars, all his teammates bats cost between 300 and 400 dollars,(yeah, that’s what a very good metel bat cost) metel bat companies like our team,metel bat companies don’t want us buying 80 dollar wood bats(yeah that’s what a very good wood bat cost) You might break one in a season…Follow the money and you’ll see why metel bat companies have lobbyist.
August 20th, 2007 at 11:37 amWow, sounds like he’s a pansy and get the bat around. Batting .200…I hope they clipped him from the team.
August 20th, 2007 at 11:54 amMetal bats are for high school players.
August 20th, 2007 at 11:57 amLet’s hope Hell has a special metal bat waiting for this lying jerk.
August 20th, 2007 at 12:06 pmWe had a great baseball game this summer, the crew had a day off from digging fireline.
The bases were made from slices of pine log, the ball was wound up duct tape, and I carved the bat from a juniper branch.
It even said “Slide Canyon Slugger” in magic marker on the shaft.
August 20th, 2007 at 12:13 pmLittle League baseball moved the fences out this year from 200′ to 225′ because too many homer runs were being hit since the advent of metal bats, i.e., the kids hit the ball too damn hard. In the mean time the poor Little League pitcher remains 45′ from the same batters that are hitting the ball so hard that the fences have to be moved.
August 20th, 2007 at 12:50 pm.
Man I’m tired of the “this isn’t important to me, so why is TP posting it” comments. Can’t TP just post something irreverant, funny, anecdotal, dumb, silly, or fun every once in a while? This is just a “where are they now” story. The sub-context is, of course, are metal bats safe to use in little league / high school. But the main point of the story is just what happened to ol’ liar Ari. Not of interest to you or not political enough for you? Wait for the next story. Geesh.
August 20th, 2007 at 1:02 pmAs the founder, and as yet sole member, of the ABCDEF
August 20th, 2007 at 1:28 pmAmerican
Bat
Counter
Defamation
Enterprise
Foundation
I wish to state that much to much time and energy is being expended on a man made object which is impinging on our good name.
If not for the efforts of my species, you humans wouldn’t stand a chance of being able to go out on warm, humid, mosquito ridden summer evenings to play your seemingly pointless game of whacking a ball with a stick.
I hereby call for the immediate cessation of the use of our name to describe your stick, whatever it be made from, and suggest you call it for what it is:
a club.
Parrotlover77 — hear, hear!!
August 20th, 2007 at 3:38 pmI think we’d all better watch … what we say … about metal bats.
August 20th, 2007 at 3:53 pmComposite bats have become so “hot” that a ball hit back up the middle leaves the pitcher little chance to defend himself. Even those with the best reflexes are prone to serious injury. 10 years ago in HS I was hospitalized after taking one in the chest that left me unconscious for a few minutes. 2 years later in college I took a line drive between the eyes, shattering my nose, and leaving me with a grade 2 concussion. That was 8 and 10 years ago. The bats made today are much worse. Then there is the process of altering bats which can be done by anyone with a table vice making them even more dangerous. If they aren’t going to ban them then regulate them to steel rather than composite and increase the weight at the hands rather than at the barrel.
August 20th, 2007 at 4:34 pmJust because it is metal does not make it lighter.
August 20th, 2007 at 4:35 pmCan’t we get a more interesting national pastime? Baseball is dreadfully slow in my opinion and has had a history of glorifing cheating. Be it stealing signals messing with the ball, messing with the bat, etc. It’s just so tired and old.
August 20th, 2007 at 4:45 pmJust because it is metal does not make it lighter.
Comment by mizuno — August 20, 2007 @ 4:35 pm
Weight distribution is the problem. You can’t end-load a wooden bat in the same way that you can a composite bat. If you were to put regulations on composite bats where weight distribution was greater in the hands rather than the barrel then you would see a significant decrease in bat speed. This drop off in bat speed will turn a 100+ MPH line drive into an 80+ MPH line drive. Remember, though the rubber might be 60′ 6″, by the time a pitcher has released the ball and finished his follow through he’s much closer to 54-56′. You’re leaving a pitcher a fraction of a second to react to the ball while still coming forward towards the plate.
August 20th, 2007 at 4:53 pmA few weeks ago a minor league coach was killed by getting hit in the head with a foul ball. The game can be dangerous.
Those of us who are base ball fans have long been worried about college players who use metal bats. Some day a college pitcher is going to get killed by a ball hit off of a metal bat. This is a serious concern and true base ball fans would love to see the metal bats go away. I can’t believe a former Bush adminstation official would put profits berfore safety. Geeees what am i saying.
August 20th, 2007 at 10:11 pmARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Drunken driving fatalities increased in 22 states in 2006 and fell in 28 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, federal transportation officials said Monday.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released data showing there were 13,470 deaths in 2006 involving drivers and motorcycle operators with blood alcohol levels of .08 or higher, which is the legal limit for adults throughout the country. The number was down slightly from 2005, when 13,582 people died in crashes involving legally drunk drivers.
The overall number of deaths involving drivers and motorcycle operators with any amount of alcohol in their blood was 17,602 last year. That was up from 17,590 in 2005, according to spokeswoman Heather Ann Hopkins.
“The number of people who died on the nation’s roads actually fell last year,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said at a news conference in this Washington suburb. “However the trend did not extend to alcohol-related crashes.”
August 20th, 2007 at 11:16 pm