Revealing: Wood Baseball Bat Clouded Misinformation
"There are three things in my life which I really love: God, my family, and baseball. The only problem - once baseball season starts, I change the order around a bit." -Al Gallagher, 1971 OR, "People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." -Rogers Hornsby Like warm & witty baseball humor above, a wood baseball bat is the marrow of artistic poetry, and at the same time controversy, for the world of baseball. Today we're going to answer the bleeding questions, boa-constricting every admirer and young player of the game,
Now for our Q&A section... What's the strongest wood for a bat? Hickory seemed to be the wood bat of choice back when Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were dropping 500 foot shots over baseball's confines. Hickory's dense, heavy, and durable nature proved well amongst the ranks, And, then Ted Williams came along swinging a lighter bat made from Northern White Ash, its light weight features were great for end-of-the-season fatigue. Teddy Ballgame made hitting a science, after the release of his hitting gospel book, down to the selection of a bat. He often looked for wood baseball bats having gnarly knots on the barrel, so as to reinforce the impact of a batted ball. All players would "bone," also known as "boning," Northern White Ash bats, which meant taking an animal bone and rub it length-wise along the grains to pack them down. Players continue to do this today, whether it holds biological credence, who knows, but I sure followed suit and took The Splendid Splinter's word for it myself. We then moved into a new age of wooden bats, Maple...it's light like White Ash, but dense, similar to old school Hickory. The difference is, since its mass is less, they break a lot easier than its heavier vintage counterpart. Now you see players experimenting with Bamboo Bats Returning to our original question, hickory is by far the strongest wood available for swinging, however a short search on Google will land you frustrated...there's a company called Old Hickory Co., which manufacturers, ironically, Ash bats and surprisingly, the only positive life for old Hickory is a Don Mattingly endorsed hickory youth "training" bat. Other than that, companies are spending their marketing dollars pushing their Maple models, thanks to guys like Barry Bonds shattering the home run record, steroids and all, with a SamBat Maple. How to hold and swing a wood baseball bat properly? To set this action up right I would make sure the label was facing me in my stance, and then after a few hits, look at where the ball marks were ending up and adjust the bat accordingly. 
What's the best and most durable wood training bat?Most composite wood baseball bats will work, but brace yourselfbecause they ARE an investment...typically running over $100! My favorites are Mizuno's Composite Wood BaumBats also have a 6 month manufacturer's limited warranty, which says a lot for any other wood bat. The only drawback, they'll run you $150 on up, unless you order 1 box (6 bats) direct from the company, then they'll run $135/bat including shipping. Take it from me, they're worth the investment in training for the serious athlete. What's the secret to making wood last longer?
The latter being crucial to wood baseball bat longevity and performance. Wood is one of the three most powerful training tools out there, the other two being a hitting tee and digital camcorder. I heard an old sage in a far off country say once, to invest good money in two things: a good mattress and shoes...it's the same with baseball. I hope you enjoyed the Q&A about wood bats, please feel free to subscribe to our RSS feed above, and keep in stride with future articles. We really appreciate your time with us! Return from Wooden Baseball Bat back to Winning Baseball Equipment
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