Scandium, Baseball, and the Periodic Table of DEATH and Mystery

There is nothing else like it, really. Dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, you mill about within a relaxed, happy crowd of people, listening to the treble shouts of excited children who hold up and twist one hand encased in a thick leather baseball glove, the other hand clutched tightly by an adult so they won’t get lost in the throng. The smell of broiling hot dogs mixes with the sharp scent of mustard, and layered through the air is the salty yeasty waft of beer. You check your tickets and enter a short dark tunnel to emerge into a professional baseball park on a warm day cooling into a refreshing evening, the atmosphere infused with anticipation. As you amble down the steps to find your seat, scaldingly bright banks of overhead lights illuminate a technicolor Oz laid before your feet: the manicured Kelly-green diamond, the rich red-brown infield earth, crisp white chalk in the baselines already smeared by the players’ cleats, and the smooth expanse of the outfield that might run into the iconic Green Monster of Fenway Park or the ivy-covered brick at Wrigley Field.

But what ultimately draws you is the community and camaraderie—being a part of something, sharing the roar of the crowd, the pop of a 90-mile-an-hour fastball in the pocket of the catcher’s mitt, or the crack of the wooden bat.

 

That’s right, the crack of the wooden bat on the baseball, not that tink you remember from your Little League baseball or softball years. Because if you played as a kid after the mid-1970s, you most likely swung an aluminum bat in the on-deck circle. And if you play now in an intramural city league trying to relive the glory days of your youth (don’t deny it), you will step up to the plate with a scandium-aluminum alloy bat (13).

 

Not a lot of scandium in the alloy. Only 0.5% (1). But that’s all that’s needed of the 21st element of the periodic table to increase the strength and elasticity of the bat, decrease denting, and keep it lightweight for a fast, powerful swing. So let’s chat about the element scandium a little first.

Scandium (Sc) was predicted to exist in 1869 by the creator of the periodic table, Dmitri Mendeleev (2), was discovered and named after Scandinavia in 1879 by Lars Fredrik Nilson (3), and finally, was purified using electrolysis in 1937 (4). In its pure form, Sc is a soft silvery metal just to the left and therefore slightly lighter than titanium (Ti). It is found in much greater quantities in the universe than on Earth, where it is considered a rare-earth element found in small amounts in many different kinds of minerals—but at only about 22 ppm (part per million) (1).

 

Scandium has no role in biological life on Earth. No organism studied uses scandium for any biological function, although scandium accumulates in tea leaves compared to other plants at 140 ppm (1) (this info came from a Nature article, but it’s not referenced—shame on them!), probably because the plant confuses scandium with aluminum (14). At such low levels, it’s not considered dangerous to human health (5) even if you drink tea all day. Still, scandium alone or in other inorganic molecules really hasn’t been tested (6) except as ScCl3, which is considered moderately toxic (7).

 

Scandium added to aluminum not only increases the tensile strength of the alloy, but also increases the melting point, so it was originally developed by the Russians for use in MIGs (cue the Top Gun theme). But scandium is expensive because it’s difficult to extract, so titanium is usually used instead, although Sc-Al alloys are still considered the best (8). 

Back to baseball bats. One of the reasons aluminum baseball bats were first proposed was that wooden bats break a lot, so a lower-cost alternative that lasts longer was a benefit. Pure aluminum bats did that, but they dented. Scandium alloy bats last longer, but the engineering technology and metal added raised costs substantially (9). Still, that engineered design also resulted in baseballs flying for longer distances and more home runs. That’s why Sc-Al alloy bats are now used all the way up through college. But they are NOT used in major league baseball. Why?

 

WARNING: Math

 

Because the highest speed of the ball coming off the scandium alloy bat or the increased exit velocity is about 10 miles per hour (16.1 kph) faster than off a wooden bat: 101.8 mph (164 kph) off a scandium alloy bat versus 91.3 mph (145 kph) off a wooden bat (10). Athletes have fast reflexes, but a line drive at the pitcher’s head 60 feet (18.3 meters) away at 10l.8 mph exit velocity equals 149 feet per second (45.4 meters per second). The baseball gets to the pitcher in 0.4 seconds. Off a wooden bat, the same pitch hit at the same strength gives the pitcher 0.44 seconds to react. Not much more time, but it still could make a difference between an out or injury and even death, especially with the power of a professional baseball player at bat.

 

There’s that terrible word, death. And here’s how it’s related to the periodic table element scandium and baseball. In October of 2009, a family was awarded $850,000 for the wrongful death of their son, 18-year-old pitcher Brandon Patch. Brandon was struck in the head and killed in 2003 by a baseball hit off an aluminum alloy bat made by Louisville Slugger (11). The family argued that the bats should come with a product warning, and now they do:

 

WARNING: Most bats are made to the standards of governing bodies, including any certifications shown on this bat. Still, a hitter can generate batted ball speeds that present a risk of serious injury or death to fielders, nearby players, coaches, umpires, and spectators. Be alert and aware of all batters, and use appropriate protective equipment at all times, on a baseball or softball field or near a batter (12).