Ireland has no balls, but too many bats

Over at the other Boston Irish in Dublin, Cormac Eklof puts out a plea for baseballs. He reports that "right now, Irish baseball has no balls. Send us anything you got! ... That's what I said. Irish baseball has no balls." I may bring some over when I am heading over to Dublin in a couple of weeks. If I am stopped by customers officers, I can say that I have just brought over "a load of balls" from America (they will ask: "What, you've brought over a box of election promises?").

Up north in Derry (not the one in New Hampshire), they have the opposite problem, too many baseball bats. A judge told the court there he is "amazed by the number of baseball bats in this town". Famously, during the "troubles" in the North of Ireland, there was a brisk trade in baseball bats, but very few balls or gloves were sold, and indeed there were no baseball teams. But why not whack people with hurley sticks, which are more common in Ireland? This discussion thread ponders that important question (snippits: "I believe that they are often heavier than hurley sticks--and they in recent years now tend to be narrower at the base where you grip them.", "I think that weight for weight, you'd get a bigger whack with a baseball bat. It would have less air resistance and force over surface area would mean greater pressure on impact.", "Protestant bad guys may prefer to be unarmed than to use this symbol of a Gaelic sport for their misdeeds").

Ouch.