Alderson said some of the first steps would be restructuring Major League Baseball’s office in Santo Domingo, the Dominican capital. He said the office’s director had been dismissed. He intends to develop measures to exercise more oversight of scouts and executives of major league teams doing business in the country and to expand educational programs informing players about the perils of performance-enhancing drugs.

Baseball plans to create its own youth baseball program in the country, Alderson said, and will consider fingerprinting prospects to keep track of them as they work their way through the system.

“People expressed to me here, they are proud of the place the Dominican Republic holds in professional baseball and proud of what they have produced,” Alderson said. “But there is also genuine embarrassment about those who use substances or turn out to be who they did not claim.”

Afterward, Maddon said maple bats are becoming the "Claymore mines of baseball.'' A Claymore mine, just for reference, is a directional antipersonnel mine used by the U.S. military in ambushes and against enemy infantry.

Price escaped with just an abrasion on his right palm near his thumb. Maddon vented about the use of maple bats after the game, saying the next time, or sometime after that, someone else won't be as lucky.

"Some day somebody is going to get killed or impaled,'' Maddon said. "David was fortunate today.''

Studies by baseball's Safety and Health Advisory committee in 2008 concluded that maple bats are three times as likely to shatter as traditional ash bats. The study didn't outlaw the bats, just made suggestions about how manufacturers should create the slope of the bat.

And the maple bats still keep shattering, although it's not clear if they are shattering less or more.

"I don't know if [the use of maple bats] is because of a shortage of wood or what,'' Maddon said. "But it's my opinion that maple should be banned at all levels."

Within seconds, the section came out like a wisdom tooth extracted. The concrete portion of the roof tumbled forward, then down, followed by the risers where seats were once attached. The dust cloud dissipated quickly.

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher David Price left today's game against the Boston Red Sox in the bottom of the second inning after being struck on his right hand by part of Adrian Beltre broken bat.

David Price left today's game against the Red Sox in the bottom of the second inning after being struck on his right hand by the barrel of Adrian Beltre's broken bat.

It was a moment that looked worse than it actually was.

"It was more of a scare," Price said. "I don't know what really happened. I guess at the last second I threw my hands up."

"People see dark faces out there, and the perception is that they're African American," Los Angeles Angels center fielder Torii Hunter says. "They're not us. They're impostors.

"Even people I know come up and say, 'Hey, what color is Vladimir Guerrero? Is he a black player?' I say, 'Come on, he's Dominican. He's not black.' "

[...]

There also might be flaws in the scouting system. Milwaukee Brewers pitcher LaTroy Hawkins, who grew up in Gary, Ind., and Hunter, from Pine Bluff, Ark., say few scouts bothered to watch them in high school. Too much crime, they say, too much poverty.

"It's not just the white scouts," Hunter says. "Most black scouts aren't going there either. I thought most guys would want to go into those areas to find the next Jackie Robinson or Hank Aaron."