Major League Baseball’s new ban on low-density maple bats excludes currently active MLB players. The message, we guess, is that bat safety is of paramount importance – for rookies.
Author: Admin
Remembering an innovator – Irving Franklin
We tweeted about this last week – marking the passing of Irving Franklin, co-founder of Franklin Sports and co-inventor of the batting glove. Franklin teamed up with Mike Schmidt in the 1980s to design and make the batting glove that remains today the flagship product of the Franklin Sports brand – […]
Little League Bats
Little League International has announced bat specs and standards for the 2012 season – check it out here. Although the ban on composite-barreled bats remains in effect, some composite-barreled bats have received waivers based on the Bat Performance Factor and the Accelerated Break-In process. For your ease of use, here’s the […]
Wood Scientist at Work
In the quest to make bats better, stronger and safer, leave it to the Wood Scientist to lead the way. This one places among our favorites in the pantheon of great job titles. We hope it’s on his business card.
Just Do It (until you decide not to)
What’s going on with Nike bats? College baseball teams contracted to use Nike bats can now choose to use other bats if they wish. Is this due to performance problems? We can’t speak from first-hand experience: we haven’t used Nike bats yet, though we’ve been meaning to try them out. […]
Knockout!
It’s only fitting that Louisville’s own Muhammad Ali be honored with a commemorative bat made by Louisville Slugger. Check out this tribute to the boxing great. A nice collectible!
Battle of the Bugs
One thing may be standing in the way of the resurgence of wood baseball bats: a wood boring beetle that’s devouring ash forests in New York state. But the USDA has a plan to combat this ash-eating invader – they are fighting bugs with bugs. Unless we get this beetle […]
Fire and Ice
Here’s an interesting take on making bats stronger and more durable: put them in a deep freeze. This innovative approach has yielded bats that are about 26% stronger than untreated bats, according to proponents. Seems like one way of getting a hot bat is to give it the big chill. […]
Game Changer
We’ve been hearing the drum beats of change these past few years as the game of baseball has gone back to basics with its embrace of wood bats. In the name of safety or fairness or the purity of the game, the result is the same: here’s an interesting article on some of the […]
Less Ping, More Crack
In a continuing movement across the country, we’re hearing less “ping” and more “crack” around our local baseball fields. Wood continues to supplant aluminum as more leagues switch from space-age composites to good old-fashioned wood bats. Scores may be down, but the spirit of baseball is on the rise. There’s […]