I don't think battoning is necessarily wrong. I do think that it should be restricted to green wood. Seasoned wood of the size that broke the blade can also pinch the blade so tight that it's putting huge lateral (perpendicular)loads on the blade. The whack of the baton 90 degrees from the lateral loading pushed it to the breaking point. A smaller stick driven in at the split would have kept the blade from pinching/binding and (probably) prevented the blade from breaking.

As for sticking to green wood, I've mostly considered battoning to be for the construction of shelter. Once you have a fire going you don't really have to chop and split big pieces, you feed them into the fire. The caveat is a true life-or-death emergency situation. If I think battoning through a steel girder will just maybe save me or a loved one, then I'm going to baton right through that girder.