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Professional Baseball Bats: Minor And Major Leagues
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Published: November 15, 2006
In the game of professional baseball, few pieces of equipment are more important and fundamental than the bat; without a bat, it would not be possible to drive the ball and score runs.
Having meticulously fashioned and perfected bats from the trunk of a tree, bat manufacturers know professional baseball bats must meet the razor-sharp criteria of the players, who will use them throughout the course of a long season.
To these professional players, it is hardly an exaggeration to say their bats are their lifeblood.
In professional baseball (both major league and minor league), players are allowed to use only wooden bats. Baseball purists love this restriction; in their minds, aluminum or alloy bats do not embody the same type of classic tradition as the wooden bat. To them, nothing says baseball quite like the crack of the bat making contact with the ball.
Official baseball rules further dictate a bat cannot exceed 2 and 3/4 inches in diameter or 42 inches in length. Within these general restrictions, each player has their own preference for what kind of bat – style of wood, diameter, length and style of grip – works best for them.
Maple and ash are the two most popular cuts of professional baseball bats. Largely popularized by the success of Barry Bonds hitting 73 home runs in 2001, maple wood bats are known for their tightly woven grain. This feature incites the ball to jump off the bat if the player hits it in the “sweet spot,” or the spot where the ball will leave the bat at the greatest velocity and cause the least vibration on the player's hands. Generally, the finer the grain on the bat, the more expensive the bat will be – a fact to remember when picking out a bat.
Players once thought maple bats were too heavy to use, a belief leading to a preference for ash bats. However, technology in the past decade has limited the amount of moisture in maple bats, managing the weight and making an effective professional baseball bat. Even non-professional players who use aluminum bats in games find the strength and features of such bats offer good training methods to improve a swing.
While maple is enjoying a recent boom in popularity, white ash has been the longtime staple for professional baseball bats. Popular legend has it that Ted Williams, considered to be one of the best hitters to ever play the game, would go into the Pennsylvania woods to personally handpick the ash tree that would create his bat.
Though not as long-lasting as their maple counterparts, ash bats provide an attractive level of consistency and feel cementing its spot on major and minor league bat racks everywhere.
Only the finest ash trees are used to produce professional baseball bats; trees used for this purpose often are at least 50 years old. Of all the wood harvested from the trees, only the top 10 percent is used for production for the professional baseball bats.
Easton, a popular manufacturer of professional baseball bats, is used by more than 100 major league players. Easton baseball bats are a fixture in the game because of the quality craftsmanship going into each Easton bat. Odds are, if you look on any amateur, minor league or major league baseball field, you will find a fair share of Easton brand professional baseball bats.
Sources:
Baseball Bat Materials. Baseball Bats.net. 2004. 08 November 2006.
http://www.baseball-bats.net/baseball-bats/baseb all-bat-materials/index.html
Easton Online. 2006. 08 November 2006.
<http://baseball.eastonsports.com/.>
Gluckman, Jason. "Traditional Wooden Baseball Bats." EzineArticles 02 September 2005. 08 November 2006 <http://ezinearticles.com/?Traditional-Wooden-B aseball-Bats&id=66361>.
Russell, Daniel A. Acoustics of Baseball Bats. Kettering University. 2003. 08 November 2006. <http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/bats-new/be nd-sweet.html.>
Official Info: Official Rules. Major League Baseball.com. 2006. 08 November 2006.
<http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/official_i nfo/official_rules/objectives_1.jsp.>
Having meticulously fashioned and perfected bats from the trunk of a tree, bat manufacturers know professional baseball bats must meet the razor-sharp criteria of the players, who will use them throughout the course of a long season.
Related Articles
In professional baseball (both major league and minor league), players are allowed to use only wooden bats. Baseball purists love this restriction; in their minds, aluminum or alloy bats do not embody the same type of classic tradition as the wooden bat. To them, nothing says baseball quite like the crack of the bat making contact with the ball.
Official baseball rules further dictate a bat cannot exceed 2 and 3/4 inches in diameter or 42 inches in length. Within these general restrictions, each player has their own preference for what kind of bat – style of wood, diameter, length and style of grip – works best for them.
Maple and ash are the two most popular cuts of professional baseball bats. Largely popularized by the success of Barry Bonds hitting 73 home runs in 2001, maple wood bats are known for their tightly woven grain. This feature incites the ball to jump off the bat if the player hits it in the “sweet spot,” or the spot where the ball will leave the bat at the greatest velocity and cause the least vibration on the player's hands. Generally, the finer the grain on the bat, the more expensive the bat will be – a fact to remember when picking out a bat.
Players once thought maple bats were too heavy to use, a belief leading to a preference for ash bats. However, technology in the past decade has limited the amount of moisture in maple bats, managing the weight and making an effective professional baseball bat. Even non-professional players who use aluminum bats in games find the strength and features of such bats offer good training methods to improve a swing.
While maple is enjoying a recent boom in popularity, white ash has been the longtime staple for professional baseball bats. Popular legend has it that Ted Williams, considered to be one of the best hitters to ever play the game, would go into the Pennsylvania woods to personally handpick the ash tree that would create his bat.
Though not as long-lasting as their maple counterparts, ash bats provide an attractive level of consistency and feel cementing its spot on major and minor league bat racks everywhere.
Only the finest ash trees are used to produce professional baseball bats; trees used for this purpose often are at least 50 years old. Of all the wood harvested from the trees, only the top 10 percent is used for production for the professional baseball bats.
Easton, a popular manufacturer of professional baseball bats, is used by more than 100 major league players. Easton baseball bats are a fixture in the game because of the quality craftsmanship going into each Easton bat. Odds are, if you look on any amateur, minor league or major league baseball field, you will find a fair share of Easton brand professional baseball bats.
Sources:
Baseball Bat Materials. Baseball Bats.net. 2004. 08 November 2006.
http://www.baseball-bats.net/baseball-bats/baseb all-bat-materials/index.html
Easton Online. 2006. 08 November 2006.
<http://baseball.eastonsports.com/.>
Gluckman, Jason. "Traditional Wooden Baseball Bats." EzineArticles 02 September 2005. 08 November 2006 <http://ezinearticles.com/?Traditional-Wooden-B aseball-Bats&id=66361>.
Russell, Daniel A. Acoustics of Baseball Bats. Kettering University. 2003. 08 November 2006. <http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/bats-new/be nd-sweet.html.>
Official Info: Official Rules. Major League Baseball.com. 2006. 08 November 2006.
<http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/official_i nfo/official_rules/objectives_1.jsp.>
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