Bat Materials

[softball66]

I'm starting a thread that will lead me later into glove materials (types of leather, etc,) but wanted to discuss the more dramatic switch in bat woods in the last eight years or so, from Ash to Maple.
Haven't seen much written on this but I feel that the use of Rock Maple, a denser wood than Ash but slightly heavier, (retains more moisture) is increasing and is replacing the 100 year old reliable northern ash as wood of choice among major leaguers with some 300 or so using them I understand.
Bonds broke the major league HR record with a maple bat (Sam Bat) and it seems to resist breakage and must be adding consistent distance to the struck ball.
I wonder just what the overall effect of maple has done to the record number of home runs nearly every year since 1999, besides the performance enhancement drugs? Is there a combination effect of both these uses? The maple bat usage hasn't gotten much media play it seems.
Another wood coming to the fore is Bamboo, another harder wood than ash. I suspect Hickory, a popular wood of the 1920s and 1930s, might be next on the list.
The problems with maples and the harder woods were they were heavier, thus reducing bat speed, but evidently the kiln dry methods being emoployed have lessened this issue and cupping the bat may have also helped, allowing decent bat speed.
Though I've not read anything on this, I would also suspect that the lacquers and finishes may be aiding the impact points too on the newer wood bats.
After 50 years of softball and watching the technological improvements in metal bats, distance, ball speed, I can understand what's happening with the new bats.
This may lead me to an article on this subject. Would love some input on this forum especially from bat specialist Fred Lowman or any other bat fan.

[Mike_2007]

Funny, I was just reading about Jack Cust's "new" bats yesterday and how his previous were bad...

http://www.athleticsnation.com/2008/5/5 ... -al-player

http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/news/a ... p&c_id=oak

[wbunnell]

The university of Massachussets - Lowell has a baseball research center at this address. [http://m-5.eng.uml.edu/umlbrc/index.html].

Under the publications tab they have documents (many you can download) that go into the effects that different bat materials have on a batted ball.

Just be prepared to spend some serious time in front of the computer! [/url]

[awarsoca]

http://m-5.uml.edu/umlbrc/
other link wasn't working (c;

[wbunnell]

Thanks for checking my typing. Trying to type at work really gets in the way of my usage on this forum

[Mike_2007]

My favorite bat physics site is:

http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/bats.html

[awarsoca]

A large number of modern MLB players use maple bats instead of ash, while most players in the Babe Ruth era used heavy hickory bats. Maple and hickory are harder woods than ash, and the greater strength means that maple and hickory bats don't break as often as ash bats do. But, maple and hickory bats tend to be heavier and most players prefer lighter weight bats because a lighter bat can be swung with greater control. Recent problems with the emerald ash borer beetle are threatening the availability of quality ash for baseball bats, and the availability of good ash for baseball bats may be a serious concern in the near future. Bat manufacturers reserve the highest quality wood for professional players, with lesser quality wood used for minor leagues and wood only college leagues, and even lesser quality wood for youth bats, like the ones you can buy at your local sportings goods store. Differences in the quality of wood translate into differences in performance.

From http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/bats-new/ban-safety.html

[wbunnell]

There is a new article on yahoo. Hopefully this link works as I had trouble last time.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=j ... &type=lgns

In case you have to search for it on yahoo its titled "Baseball at breaking point over maple bats".

It basically goes into how players feel maple gives them an advantage but that many people are beginning to feel they are more dangerous than ash when they break and splinter.

[Cowboy7130]

Joe - I agree with your assertion that bats and "juiced" balls may have as much to do with the explosion of home run numbers over the past two decades as performance-enhancing drugs ever did. My first thought, which occurred to me about 15 years ago, is that bat design is partially responsible. I bought a new Louisville Slugger to take to the batting cages. I immediately noticed that my hands were cramping after a few rounds of tokens in the machines; then I noticed that the handle was obviously thinner than my older, much too small and sentimentally retired wooden bat from Little League. Thinner handles lead to more whip action, thinner handles weigh less and shift the center of gravity toward the sweet spot, making a well-hit ball even more "velocitous." (I didn't make that word up, one of my assistant coaches did! )

Check out all the stuff about Ted Williams and his choice of bats. Everything he did, he did to remove an extra tenth of an ounce from his bat; he wanted thinner handles, drier wood, and wasn't he the first to experiment with the cupped-out ends? I have a picture in my screensaver of a moment of impact on one of his swings; the bat looks like a blurred banana, it has flexed so much. Can you imagine the catapult effect that would cause on a hit ball, when you get someone bigger, stronger and heavier (canseco, bonds, mcguire, etc.) swinging the bat, rather than the relatively slim Williams? So I think the move to slimmer handles on the bats has caused greater bat speed, more force, more homers.

And, as a natural result and consequence, more broken bats.

And, maple technology has improved enough that maple bats are no longer the heavy piano legs that they used to be. Yes, they are harder and can crush a ball. Ex. Bonds and others. Now, there is some concern that maple technology has changed the game. Obviously, it has.

Bamboo - I recently bought a bamboo bat for my son, a high schooler who wanted to work out in the cage with a wooden bat. (Ironically, he broke that 15-year-old Louisville Slugger of mine on his FIRST swing in the cage! So I got onto the web and ebay and looked up bamboo.) I was surprised to learn that bamboo bats are composites of three or four slivers fused together with glue and then turned on the lathe to form the bat. Bamboo provides the "feel" of ash or maple, but with the tensile strength of steel. A college coach, a friend of mine, said one of his players has been using the same bamboo bat in the cage for two seasons now, and it is still solid. No cracking or splintering. However, since a bamboo bat is a composite bat, I don't believe we will see bamboo in professional baseball. Doesn't the rule say a bat must be made from a single piece of wood?

[Cowboy7130]

wow ... I just read the Yahoo article on maple bats. They are making maple sound more dangerous in the hands of major leaguers than aluminum!

[Cowboy7130]

Jack Cust's Old Hickories are New Ashes!

"Every order Old Hickory receives is cut from the same wood and treated with the same care and attention that our Major League players’ bats receive. Hand selected maple and ash from the Northeastern United States and Canada is the primary source of Old Hickory’s wood. Only the highest graded wood is acceptable for use in an Old Hickory bat. "

[robin_buckeye]

Couldn't the bat handles be wrapped with some sort of reinforced tape? This wouldn't keep the bat from breaking, but it would keep the pieces more or less together, preventing the shards from flying through the air.

When I was a kid (early 60's), we had a few bats whose handles were fiberglass wrapped. It seems to me that they lasted a long time. I also remember that we all liked to use them early in the season, when the weather was still cold, as a mishit didn't sting as much.

[softball66]

Cowboy's right about the makeup of the bat. Excerpt below.
"''Basically, if you had a lathe in your garage and made bats, as long as they were solid one piece of wood, weren't synthetic or glued together and complied to the sizing requirements, they would get approved,'' Murray said. ''It's relatively simple.''

I'm sure the rule specify the above.
Robin, the wrapping does help. Hanna was the first I remember to sell their bats, handle wrapped. I think that's the one you mention in your post.
And yes, sting and vibration are bad.
There's plenty of information out on the internet on bat wood sources.
Other for Cowboy. MLB supposedly did independent testing on the MLB baseballs in 2000 and showed that the ball were not juiced. I assume that
the testing was continued from that point forward. But like you I thought
maybe there was a baseball problem from about that time. There was a problem with the balls, I understand, in 1987.

[crackofthebat]

Sorry I haven't responded sooner Joe, but I never get down to the bottom of the forum to see what is posted at the botom of the page. I will ramble for a few minutes about wood.
Ash - In my opinion still the best wood for a bat. Unfortunately, the ash forests in the northeast have been hit with a killer beetle (emerald ash borer) and a warmer climate. Scientists claim that the ash wood that now makes an ideally dense but flexible bat might become softer because of the longer growing season. The emerald ash borer is native to Asia where the trees are naturally resistant to it. The insect larvae tunnel inside the tree cutting off its supply of water and food and will destroy a tree in 2 to 3 years. Some suppliers are even harvesting ash trees earlier than planned because of the insects arrival.
Hickory - A lot denser wood than ash but very strong because of its stringy grain (try splitting a piece! ) . I have repaired a number of bats from the 20's to the 40's that were hickory, but I have yet to run across a modern bat made of hickory. Maybe they just don't break I don't think this is a very plentiful wood and is very slow growing.
Maple - I probably see more modern maple bats than ash. You are right - these bats don't just crack - they explode! If a customer sends me a bat to put back together in a small box you can bet its made of maple and in at least 3 or more pieces (with a lot of smaller pieces amoung the missing). With the small diameter handles that modern players request you can undestand why they break. Take a look at the bat handles from the turn of the century until the 50's - they were huge.
Beech - I have seen a few beech bats in the past few years. Similar to maple in density with the same type of grain, but with a little more flexibility. Has a reddish tint to the natural wood. Again, beech is a rarer hardwood and a slow grower.
I am not a wood expert, but will try to answer any question you folks might have.

[softball66]

Thanks for weighing in Fred. Your opinion is always appreciated. Maple bats disintegrations is now a cause of alarm in the big leagues. I just found an internet story addressing that point with the lead sentence reading, "Someon's going to die at a baseball stadium soon."
It was almost a coach. Writer Jeff Passan goes on to write that Don Long, the Pittsburgh batting coach in the Pirates' dugout, was hit by a remnant of Nate McLouth's bat which, "tomahawked 30 feet before slicing through his (Long's) face."
The topic of maple bats and their risks will be discussed between MLB and the players' union soon.