Baseball Pitching Machines Warning

Baseball Pitching Machines Warning NEWS from CPSC U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Office of Information and Public Affairs Washington, DC 20207 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 14, 1978 Release # 78-021 CPSC Warns On Hazardous Baseball Pitching Machines WASHINGTON, DC (April 14) -- The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) today warned the public not to use certain unguarded automatic baseball pitching machines which it considers extremely hazardous. The Commission advises anyone having possession of such unguarded machines to place these machines in a locked storage area where unwary persons will not have access to them. The machines, which were sold to schools, recreational organizations and individuals, may be labeled "Dudley" or "Commercial Mechanisms." In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, the Commission alleges that the unguarded, rotating metal pitching arm can go off suddenly, without warning, and strike persons standing in the path of the arm. The Commission alleges that this has happened in numerous incidents even though the machines were unplugged or turned off. Everyone should be careful of pitched balls. However, the hazard addressed in this action relates to the unguarded arm. The Commission has received numerous reports of serious injuries -- including paralysis, skull fractures, brain damage, loss of sight, and other severe injuries such as broken bones -- suffered by persons hit by the pitching arm. In one reported incident, a nine-year-old boy was left a permanent paraplegic as a result of being hit in the head by the pitching machine. According to reports received by the Commission: baseball coaches, high school students, "Little League" instructors, and even small children who have come up to the machine just to look at it, have been seriously injured. These reported injuries have occurred on school grounds, in city parks, and at private homes. Reportedly, about 7,500 of the baseball pitching machines were manufactured between 1956 an