Before we get into baseball bat history, I will like you to understand the game of baseball meaning.
Baseball is a game played by two teams with nine players, each holding a bat, a ball, and a glove with four white lids out on the field.
Each team takes turns in positions as batters for offense and fielders for defense, changing places with each other when three of the batter team members are out.
As players of the batting team, you will try to hit the ball out of the fielders’ reach and make a complete run through the bases. You score when the runner advances through the bases legally and touches the home plate.
At the end of the game, the team with the most runs wins.
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What is the History of Baseball Bats?
Baseball bats are wood or metal clubs used to hit a ball in baseball thrown by the pitcher.
It comprises several regions: the knob that helps Keep your hand in place, your bat’s diameter tapers from the skinny to the wider barrel handle and helps you improve your ball control while limiting added weight.
Evolution of Baseball Bats
In the early days, baseball bats had different shapes and sizes. It was an extremely young sport in the 1850’s so batters had to make their bats and tested out bats of various varieties (short, long, heavy, flat). It didn’t take the time to understand that the rounded barrels are the best.
In 1859 a new rule was made that all bats shouldn’t be more than 2.5 inches in diameter because they were shapes and sizes of different bats used, although they could be any length.
In 1869 ten years after the first one, no baseball bat should be more than 42 inches in length, which is the maximum length allowed to this present day.
During this time, bats had no rule regarding their shape, so players sometimes use a bat with flat surfaces for bunting.
For more information on baseball’s different shapes and sizes, check out What is a baseball bat’s weight?
Birth of Louisville Slugger
In 1884, it marked the birth of the most well-known name on baseball bats today -The Louisville Slugger. It all began with Hillerch a 17-year-old in a baseball game watching a Louisville player get frustrated after breaking the favorite bat.
After the match, browning was approached by a woodworker named Hillerich, whose father was also a woodworker, with an offer to make a new bat for him. They both went to a woodworking shop, chose a piece of white ash, and made new bats which browning supervised.
Browning used his new bat the next day and went three on three; not soon after, the news about the new bat spread like wildfire, and the Hillerich family entered into the baseball business.
Demand for the bats quickly grew, and they soon started adding their recognizable trademark, The Louisville Slugger, to their bats.
For more information on the manufacturing of wooden bats, check out What are the Best Baseball Bat manufacturers
Improvements
In the year 1890, the rules committee declared that bats should no longer be flat at the end, they should be round, and the diameter increased from a maximum of 2.5 to 2.75 inches.
In 1900, Honus Wagner, one of the greatest baseball players, became the first player to pay for his autograph to be on the Louisville Slugger bats.
Although the bat continued developing over the years, wood baseball bats in the present day look similar to those of 100 years ago; the only differences are bat today is a lot easier to handle and much lighter in weight.
Growth of Aluminum Bats
In the year 1924, William Shroyer sent out a patent for the first metal bat. Despite the early patent of the metal bat, they did not use it in baseball until 1970, when Worth introduced the first aluminum baseball bat.
Not long after, Worth created the first aluminum bat for little league and the first one-piece aluminum bat.
In the late 1970’s Easton arrived at the aluminum bat stage with a more robust and better grade of the aluminum bat, which was credited to the increasing acceptance of aluminum baseball bats. Despite the approval of aluminum bats by baseball players worldwide, nothing other than wood was used by MLB major league baseball because of safety and competitive reasons.
In 1993, Worth and Easton introduced the titanium bat, and in 1995 Louisville slugger and Easton introduced the strongest, lightest grade of aluminum bats to this day.
No doubt that today scientifically designed bats are distant relatives of the bats used by baseball players 150 years ago.
Barry Bonds Maple Bats
The 2001 season of baseball brought about an achievement that has not only been said to be impossible by people ten years ago but unbelievable.
Barry bonds hit a record seven home runs in a single season. Soon into his home run tear, Barry bond was found to be using a maple wood baseball instead of the standard bats made of white ash.
Not long after players in major league baseball were searching for the maple wood baseball bat used by barry, a quick online check on maple bats and you will find out dozens of companies are selling this product.
These 150 years of baseball have brought about many significant changes to baseball bats and the game itself. No doubt the future will bring a lot of changes to this simple tool called a baseball bat.
Conclusion
There you have it with this; you should now have known the history of baseball bats and how famous bats like the Louisville slugger came to be or how aluminum bats came into existence, and other improvements made to baseball bats over the year.
For more inquiries on baseball bats or anything related to baseball, check out
What are the balk rules in baseball‘
