The Baseball Bat: A Historical Look the Great Offensive Equalizer
If you are a fan of the game of baseball, you may not have given much thought to how the game has been changed by the historical evolution of the baseball bat.
Americans became infatuated with baseball in the early 1800s, and by 1860 the sport was definitely the national pastime, with players using early versions of baseball bats to slug the ball around a regulation field. You probably know that Abner Doubleday invented the game of baseball, but you may not know that New Yorker, Alexander Cartwright designed the configuration and dimensions of the baseball field during the 1840s. His New York Knickerbocker Base Ball Club, developed the first set of league rules.
The first historical record of a league baseball game was the 1846 Knickerbocker duel with the New York Baseball Club (the Knickerbockers LOST at Elysian Fields, in Hoboken, New Jersey. The National Association of Base Ball Players was founded in 1848, and became the first organized baseball league in the United States. By the time this league was formed, the baseball bat had already gone through quite an evolution! Unlike the baseball bats of today, baseball bats of yore were not regulated for weight, length or anything else for that matter. Bats came in all shapes and sizes. In the 1800s when baseball was in its infancy, baseball bats were often made by the players, and the bat might be long or short, fat or skinny, heavy or light. As the game evolved, players soon figured out that rounded baseball bats were the best.
In 1859, baseball bats were limited to 2.5 or less in diameter, though your bat could be as LONG as you preferred, and it could be round or flat! About 10 years later, the length of all baseball bats was limited to 42. And that length limitation still applies today. The Louisville slugger baseball bat was invented in 1884. If you are a big fan of baseball, you probably already know that! But what you may not know is that the Louisville slugger baseball bat was the brainchild of a seventeen year old by the name of John Hillerich. John and his father were woodworkers.
John attended a baseball game in Louisville, and saw a player by the name of Pete Browning get very angry after he broke his favorite bat during the game. After the game, he asked Browning if he could make him a new baseball bat and Browning went with him to his shop, where they chose a piece of white ash wood for his new baseball bat. The next day, Browning had a great game, and all the other players wanted to know about the bat he was using. Soon, other players were flocking to the Hillerich woodworking shop to get their own baseball bats, and the Louisville slugger was born! During the 1890s, the regulations were changed again to specify that baseball bats must be round, and that a bat could not be flat on the end. Diameter limitations increased to 2.75.
Metal baseball bats were invented in the 1920s, but it would be 50 years before they would be used in baseball. Today, aluminum bats are used in Little League baseball, although Major League Baseball does not use metal bats because of safety concerns and because the use of metal bats would significantly change the competition. Bats made out of aluminum, graphite and titanium drive the ball farther and higher than wooden bats, so the use of metal bats in Major League Baseball would change the game forever! In 1991, the ash bat was changed yet again by the design of the Baum baseball bat which has a resin core impregnated with fiber and yarn to make the bat lighter. The ash exterior was preserved, but these bats were bouncier and it was estimated that using this new lighter core bat would improve hitting speed by 5%.
From the original hickory bats of the 1800s to the ash bats of 1900 and beyond, we saw the advent of the maple bat in the early 2000s. 150 years of baseball, have wrought a lot of changes in the baseball bat and in other tools of the game and we will probably see more as the game evolves.
Find and buy a baseball bat and learn everything you need to know about baseball bats by visiting our web site: Baseball Bat
Club baseball team staying loose en route to Ft. Myers (Oregon Daily Emerald)The National Club Baseball World Series is old news for the Oregon club baseball team, which has made the field of eight teams in each of the past five seasons. They're used to taking a week off from school to travel to Fort Myers, Fla. to play at the Boston Red Sox spring training facility.
ASU wins back-to-back Pac-10 baseball title (KTVK 3TV Phoenix)TEMPE -- For the first time since 1981-82, Arizona State has won back-to-back Pac-10 baseball titles.
3A Baseball Teams End on High Note (Rexburg Standard Journal)ONTARIO, Ore. Jordan Hepworth pitched the Sugar-Salem Diggers to a 7-4 win over Payette on Saturday in the third-place game of the 3A state baseball tournament at Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Ore.
Baseball Tailgating
When you think of tailgating what sport do you usually think of? More than likely your answer is football. The fact of the ma...
Buying a Discount Baseball Glove
Baseball gloves can be pricey additions to the game. For beginners, cheaper gloves available at discount retail stores are pr...
New York Yankees: 2006 Baseball Betting Season
The Yankees are a team you just do not bet on. There is so much public attention given to them and so much hype that betting ...
Introduction to Baseball
Baseball is a game that is played with nine players on each team. The objective of the game is to score more points (runs) t...
Joe Mauer
Do you know who the catcher is for the Minnesota Twins? If not, you may not be alone. But when it comes down to it, Joe Mauer...
Do You Need Baseball Equipment For Training?
Whether you just want to play the sports enough so you can hit a home run or are determined that your son gets the opportunit...
Toronto Blue Jays Prospect Travis Snider
Travis Snider was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays with the fourteenth overall selection in the 2006 amateur draft. Snider pl...
Yankees Land the Big Fish in Abreu
As expected from just about everyone in the baseball world, the Yankees made a move before the trading deadline. What wasnt ...
Baseball Road Trip
If you are looking to have a lot of fun during major league baseball season you should look into taking a road trip. You can ...
Albert Pujols
If you were asked who the best hitter in baseball is, what would you say? Generally speaking, the majority of people would an...
Carlos Zambrano
One of the best pitchers in the league this season has been Carlos Zambrano of the Chicago Cubs. Even without great run suppo...
Cheap Baseball Tickets
A multitude of online ticket brokers on the Internet offer affordable tickets to all the major MLB and NCAA baseball games. Y...
New York Yankees Baseball Cards: A Collectors Hobby For All
What American doesnt love a great game of baseball? When you pair the worlds greatest game with one of the worlds greatest c...
David Ortiz
For a guy that hardly ever plays the field, David Ortiz sure gives the Boston Red Sox a lot. Even though Ortiz is usually not...
A Review of Popular Baseball Gloves
When shopping for a new baseball glove, one has many brands, styles and fits to choose from. Companies make many gloves from...
Brandon Webb
One of the best pitchers in major league baseball this season is Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondback. Webb got off to a v...
Baseball Season Tickets
Baseball season tickets allow the holder admission to regular season baseball games. Season tickets come in different package...
Roy Halladay
One of the best pitchers in the American League is Toronto Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay. He is shown his power and poise this s...
New Ball Parks
Do you ever wonder how fans got by in the old baseball stadiums? They were made of all concrete and had little substance or s...
Ball Park Food
How much money do you spend every time you go to a major league baseball game? And not just on tickets, how much do you spend...