What if it was a baseball the size of a human?

I saw this thread and thought "man, it'd be tough to kill a bat with a knife."
Ohhh, bat. I'm an idiot.
I then thought "Obviously I choose the bat."

After reading this thread I'm not entirely sure anymore, but this is a really funny thread.

Having played baseball all my life I feel inclined to take the bat and I feel like people are vastly underestimating the force someone could generate with a bat. It's been said that the knifer could continue closing, which is possible and I've never seen demonstrated but I think if I stood ready to swing a bat and someone charged at me I would be able to rather easily at least throw them off balance no matter where I hit them with the bat. Obv if I swing for your head you could avoid it, but a bat isn't nearly as cumbersome as others think and dodging it is probably as hard as dodging a knife slash.

A hand slicing through the air with a knife is probably close to equal to the speed at which a bat slices through the air with a trained swing (that is to say both hands together on the bottom of the bat yielding maximum velocity and force). I think the effective speed of the hand and bat is equal. Sorta like dodging an arrow fired at you from a bow or a bullet. A bullet travels much faster than the arrow but I think (not sure just a random example) the arrow would be going too fast to dodge.

If initial swing doesn't knock you off balance/immobolize you I think it is fair to think that my life reflex or whatever is just as likely to get me out of your grasp, albeit sliced up moderately-badly, as you are to continue moving forward and get a good grip on me after I hit you.

The other aspect that is being overlooked is that it is actually relatively easy to kill someone with a bat that is immobolized on the ground. Even if you slash me badly I think I could continue fighting much more effectively than you could after being crushed somewhere. If I'm bleeding badly I'm likely to die, but only if I stand there and don't fight.

I firmly believe that I could knock someone off balance on their first rush enough to reposition for another hit, however given that the charger does continue moving toward me and gets a stab or slash in I think I can get another firm blow to them and that would immobolize them by force. I think ribs bent into ones body would actually stop you from fighting back regardless of adrenaline. Obv I don't know how badly i would be immobolized by a knife slash and we will never know.

Basically, anybody who has a significant amount of experience with a baseball bat should be able to "deflect" the initial rush of the knifer. They may be immobolized or get a stab/slash in but I think given one stab/slash gets in it's still 50/50 who dies first. Knife is more effective in murdering, bat is more effective in immobolizing which in this case is the same thing.

wood bat or aluminium bat?

don't stoke the fire bro

I've trained in Arnise. We trained with the traditional batons along with many other types of weapons, including knives, broomsticks and all manner of striking implements.

I would choose the knife.

The bat holders body and balance are very sensitive with such a large weapon to wield. Being even slightly off balance greatly limits your ability to land an effective blow.

With a knife, I'm free to use my footwork and balance 100% to my ability. All my defensive and offensive techniques are at my disposal.


And as usual, Blarg is right. If someone has a weapon, run away.

Has no one suggested simply jumping away while swinging the bat to retain your reach advantage? A glancing blow from a bat is still pretty powerful, even if it is done with imperfect form and less than standard power.

Furthermore, comparing a bat swing to a kick is pretty ridiculous as the bat's power will be much more concentrated than a kick's.

Finally, going off of the bat guy gets in first hit, knife dude has an opening scenario -- If you are fighting your exact clone, does the damage from the initial swing overcome a weapon disparity? Essentially, is a knife so much more desirable than a bat that it can be wielded by you, after getting hit (albeit it not at maximum power), in a manner that still beats out the unharmed bat holder?

Bat being swung by two arms is nowhere near as fast as knife.

You'd be amazed at how fast people can close.

Knife guy doesn't need to hold you to stab you, and needs barely any contact with you at all to slash.

You seem to discount the fact that you could be dead with a single stab, or dead or incapacitated within seconds. A slash can disable you too, or kill or blind. You seem to be taking knife wounds with more than a grain of salt here.

Yet you mention that it shouldn't be overlooked that you can club someone on the ground who is immobilzed to death pretty easily. This was a pretty bizarre point, as was what it looked like you were also trying to say in that paragraph, that you could fight okay with a bat from the ground?

the answer is knife you morans

A bat will have more power, but probably not more concentrated (or slightly more; concentration is a measure of power over area, and the striking area of a bat is actually very similar to that of a leg)... also jumping away while swinging takes away all of your power. You generate power with your legs and torso. Power comes from the ground. Just swinging your arms and hands with a bat won't do much damage at all unless you catch someone cleanly across the head. Knife.

bat... no contest

i take the knife.

i run right at him and then i do a baseball slide feet first. I end up behind him. i jump up and stick the knife into that sensitive area on the inside of his leg. then i stick it right into his stomach and rip out the insides.

I know swinging the bat while jumping back wont do much damage, but the fact that it assists in retaining your range advantage is key. I see it more as a tactic of attrition than anything else, until you can move in for more powerful attacks when your opponent is weakened.

Regarding the kick thing... A bat is substantially smaller than a leg; dont claim otherwise.

Jumping around and swinging the bat to retain your range advantage is just going to tire you out dude...

fyp

where i come from, we call this a knife too:

[img]http://sunflow.****************/gallery/v0054/katana.png[/img]

If you're extremely out of shape or are doing it unnecessarily, it will tire you out quite quickly. However, that isn't who will be using the strategy. A win by attrition requires ample resources by its very definition.

Just addressing this last part, it's that the bat guy probably has a stab in him that matters, while you might well have a broken arm, and that being off balance from the swing and from you charging and even half falling into him, it's going to be very hard for him to do much that's effective for a couple or few seconds. That's enough time to get in a surprising number of stabs or a scary number of slashes or both. The scary thing is how little power you need with a knife, how fast it is, and how many places in the body you can use to not just kill a guy like you would by hitting major organs or slashing the throat, but to disable him by cutting tendons and muscle, or quickly put him into shock and make him die of blood loss by attacking veins and arteries all over the body. You just don't need many advantages with a knife and can still do terrific damage with it even while wounded yourself.

Right... but the OP stipulates that the combatants are equal size, skill, ability, in shape, etc... so the other person can last just as long as you can.

And either way, that's a pretty silly strategy. You can just back up to maintain your range advantage. Jumping throws you off balance and is easy to time, as are repeated back-and-forth swings. For the bat person to have a chance he has to either time his strikes as a counter to the charge of the knife person and get out of the way quickly, but on a quick reaction basis, not a constant-motion basis.

Blarq - I am assuming some non-lethal knife blow just as you are assuming somewhat glancing bat contact. I understand the knife is much easier to land a lethal blow with, but you can't act like a hit isnt going to throw off the skills of the knife man.

MBillie - I understand the person can last as long as me, but I am not getting hit by a baseball bat. I look at it as similar to body punches in boxing.

Obviously jumping back everytime and not varying how far/which direction would leave you open for exploitation. It would also require bat swings that aren't as powerful, but enough to keep your opponent at bay.

But who's going to keep charging at you while you retreat and pummel them with bat swings? It just doesn't seem like your strategy would work against any remotely competent or thinking opponent.

edit: and I mean that seriously, not joking or putting you down, I just feel like assuming equal skill... your opponent would behave in a manner that would render this strategy useless.

I love how some people in this thread think the guy with the bat has NO mobility. They keep saying you only get 1 swing with a bat then the knife guy is going to cut them to pieces. I guess the bat guy is supposed to swing, hit the knife guy in the arm/shoulder and then just stand there while the knife guy charges him?? WTF!!!

If knife guy doesn't attack, what is the future of the fight? Does the bat guy take the offensive? In what manner is this done? Or what strategy can the knife guy adopt? Just thinking about it while writing this has given me nothing. Unfortunately, now I am interested in this and must investigate offensive bat strategies and alternate knife strategies.

Dude, you get ONE half-ass swing with your bat and jumping back "technique." Then charging knife boy is on you. There's no "war of attrition" in this fight. The winner is going to be determined in about 5 seconds. Either your one bat swing is enough to stun knife guy so he can't grapple/cut you to death or it isn't.