Gov. Brian Schweitzer signed a resolution on Wednesday urging the American Legion to adopt a wood bat-only rule in its youth baseball leagues, in Montana and across the country.

The resolution doesn't force the Legion to use wood bats. The mother of a baseball player killed in Helena in 2003 was hoping for stronger action.

"The safety of kids shouldn't be a party issue," said Debbie Patch, summing up the culmination of her emotional drive for the elimination of aluminum bats in Legion ball. Patch's son, Brandon, died shortly after he was hit in the temple by a batted ball while pitching for the Miles City Mavericks.

"Aluminum bats, wood bats are not for Democrats and Republicans to play partisan politics about," Schweitzer said at Wednesday's signing. "This issue is common sense, common ground for Montana."

A stronger bill that would have outlawed metal bats in Legion baseball tied 9-9 in the House Business and Labor Committee on a party line vote in February, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed. The same committee approved the non-binding resolution, which went on to approval in both the House and Senate.

"I was hoping that (the ban) would pass" Patch said. "I hoped it would have enough to make them change. It's time."

Patch added that two Republican members of the committee later apologized to her, but told her that they couldn't vote against the party. No members who voted against the bill were available for comment at Wednesday's signing.

Their words served as little solace to Patch, who, along with her husband Duane and sister Jamie Carlson of Helena, will continue to pursue their fight to abolish aluminum bats. They hope to see the bill reintroduced in two years.

According to Carlson, several aluminum bat manufacturing companies sent representatives to a Senate State Administration hearing in March after the resulation passed the House. The resolution passed that committee unanimously and won approval from the full Senate on a 43-7 vote.

Proponents of the ban believe that wood bats are safer because the ball has a slower exit speed and the bats have a smaller "sweet spot" than aluminum bats.

The American Legion, led by Montana chapter chairman George Haegele, has strongly opposed the requirement of wood bats in its league since the incident occurred in the summer of 2003.

Opponents argue that the cost of wood bats would cause undue hardship on leagues like the American Legion.

Last summer both the Miles City AA and A teams played exclusively with wood bats, and they made wood bats available to their opponents. Some tournaments, including Helena's Keith Sell Invitational, have made the switch to wood bats.

The issue is not confined to Montana. An examination by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission revealed that 15 players have been killed by non-wood bats during a 10-year period.

In Michigan, bat producer Steven Baum took the NCAA and four baseball equipment manufactures to trial last November, claiming that the rival manufacturers have conspired to keep safer, cheaper bats off the market.

ESPN's Emmy Award winning program "Outside the Lines" and ESPN The Magazine conducted segments on the issue last summer, both centering on the Patch incident.