Knock on Wood – What Goes into Making a Bat?

In a world of little kids knocking balls out of the park with a weak swing and a lightweight metal bat, wood bats keep baseball honest. They are the traditional tools of the sport, the bats the Major League players use, and because they are heavy, they force players to slow down and learn the game the old-fashioned way. Think Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, or Mark McGuire for that matter, would have been half the athletes they were if they played the game with a metal bat? Think again. So what goes into making these solid and often quite beautiful wood bats? The process is as specific as the player who is buying the bat.

First things first; to understand the process of making a wood bat, you need to be familiar with the parts of a bat. The most important part of the bat is the barrel. The barrel is the thick part of the bat; the part that is used for hitting the ball. Somewhere on the barrel is the so called “sweet spot.” The sweet spot is the exact place on the barrel, which is best for hitting the ball. Metal bats have large sweet spots, but wood bats have very specific, small areas just right for hitting the ball. The rounded, thick part that tops of the barrel is simply called the top or the end of the bat. Heading down the bat away from the top, the barrel narrows into the handle. The handle is where the player should grip the bat. Handles of metal bats usually have some kind of rubber or leather piece over the handle to help players get a better grip, but wood bats generally do not. The last part of the bat is the knob. The knob is the disc shape piece attached to the bottom of the handle. It helps players prevent their hands from sliding of the bat at the bottom.

Wood bats can be made from several different kinds of wood, and different players have different preferences. Ash, maple, hickory, and bamboo have all been used to make bats. Hickory is becoming less and less popular because it makes the heaviest bat. Mark McGuire’s home run success has helped maple bats like his own grow in popularity. Maple bats are light, but not everyone likes them. Team managers and umpires aren’t huge fans of maple, because they believe the bats break too easily. What type of wood is used to make a bat is a personal decision, though. Major League baseball bat regulations allow a lot of room for
hitters to design a bat that works best for them.

Once the type of wood is chosen, the bats are carved into shape. This process, too, is individual. Professional players have their own favorite specifications for calibration points and diameter, and again, Major League regulations give players plenty of wiggle room to create their own bat. These player spec bats are what amateur players are buying when they choose a “Mickey Mantle” and a “Babe Ruth” bat; they are buying bats that have been made to those players’ personal preferences Players often agree to license their specs to manufacturers for a fee, so the manufacturers may reproduce and mass market the bats of successful players. Wood bats used to be hand carved from a template and have a fixed number of calibration points. Bats these days are more likely to be machine carved; a process, which is more precise, but less personal.

Once a bat has been carved, it must be finished, or sanded. Bats used to always have a rounded top, but cup balanced heads are becoming more popular. Cup balanced tops have a recess carved into the top of the bat, shaped like a cup. These heads make bats a little lighter and shifts the center of gravity further down the bat towards the handle. After the sanding, bats are branded with the manufacturer and serial number of the bat, plus the player’s signature if the bat is a players’ spec bat.

The final step in making a wood bat is the staining process. There are seven standard colors for bats, including natural wood, red, white, and black. At the end of this process, professional and amateur players alike have a bat that should take them through many seasons.

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