Plus, any arguments for aluminum completely leave out the bottom line. In addition to sounding worse, aluminum bats create a major performance chasm between collegiate and professional baseball.

First, the power of the bats makes them much more batter-friendly, a fact which inflates collegiate batting and ERA figures.

And second, the different feel of the bats alters the optimum hitting style slightly in the collegiate game, confusing fans and scouts who are trying to conjecture as to what a college player's hitting would be like in the majors.

In all, the use of aluminum bats makes the collegiate game different from that of the majors and, in that sense, less legitimate.

As one scout said recently, using aluminum bats in college baseball is a bit like using round balls in collegiate football.

College baseball is faced with a choice. It can either scrap the "pings" or it can continue to supposedly save costs and be considered a different and less legitimate game than the pros. The choice is clear.

Of course, there is a third option. The major and minor leagues could begin to allow the use of aluminum. A person needs to go no further than to imagine Cal Ripken Jr. actually hitting .300 to realize that this would be a mad, radical, and lamentable experiment.